MANILA, Philippines ? Senator Francis Escudero exposed on Tuesday the failure of the winning bidder for the P11.2-billion automation project for the 2010 elections to submit the proper bid documents.

During a hearing of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, which he chairs, Escudero revealed that the secretary certificate of the Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. consortium was not properly authenticated.

The secretary certificate, which contains the basic information about the Smartmatic, was authenticated by the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C., instead of the Philippine consulate in Caracas, Venezuela, Escudero said.

In a press conference after the hearing, Escudero was asked if the Comelec should sign a contract with Smartmatic. He said: ?I don?t think so. In my opinion, I don?t think so. But Comelec is free to decide what it wants to do and we can?t order them around.?

During the hearing, Escudero said the consulate in Caracas had jurisdiction over Barbados, where Smartmatic is located.

On Escudero?s questioning, Smartmatic spokesman Cesar Flores said the document was authenticated in Washington D.C., because the Philippines has no embassy in Barbados.

?Did you bother to check who has jurisdiction over Barbados or [did] you simply take the word of Smartmatic? Did you bother to ask the Department of Foreign Affairs?? said Escudero asked Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) chairman Ferdinand Rafanan.

Rafanan said he only asked the head of their technical working group about it.

Escudero said he checked with the DFA and found out that the Philippine consulate in Caracas has jurisdiction over Barbados, not the embassy in Washington.

Rafanan then admitted that this matter did not come up during the bidding process, but promised that he would immediately look into it.

During the news conference, Escudero said ?any interested party? could question the automation deal before the courts. However, he said his committee was not likely to make such a move.

?Anything the Comelec does can be questioned before the court by any interested party? para sabihing kulang ito, mali ito, pigilan ito lahat yun pwedeng gawin sa korte pero hindi marahil manggagaling sa komiteng ito [to say that this is incomplete, this is wrong, stop this, all of these can be done in the courts but not necessarily by this committee],? he said.

Escudero said his committee was more interested in ensuring that the automation will proceed smoothly.

Escudero is reportedly eyeing the presidency in the 2010 elections.