MANILA, Philippines?Sen. Richard Gordon Monday said he found ?very suspicious? the pullout of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) as partner of Smartmatic in the P7.2-billion project to automate the 2010 elections.

?Is there somebody forcing partnership with Smartmatic or is this a deliberate attempt to torpedo the automation process so there will be cheating as usual?? asked Gordon, who has been vocal on his desire for poll automation to happen in next year?s polls.

He said that prior to TIM?s pullout, there was a public relations campaign to oppose the project.

He said that this latest development seemed to show that ?some people are playing with the fate of democracy in our country.?

?There is a group in Comelec (Commission on Elections) that doesn?t want automation. It must be too powerful ... The government is too weak. It has no moral and legal stamina to do, implement what it should implement,? Gordon told reporters.

?I will be devastated if full automation will not push through. I might call a blue ribbon hearing on this matter,? he said, adding that the failure of the project would mean a violation of the law.

?There is a mandate that we have to go automation. There are many Pandora?s boxes that will be opened if it does not happen,? he said, speaking in English and Pilipino.

?It appears that there is no intention to push this through. Maybe they are following the administration threat that it would not happen.?

Prepare for manual vote

Sen. Francis Escudero said TIM?s withdrawal was ?disturbing? and emphasized ?the need to scrutinize the personalities behind the groups to whom the Comelec has awarded the contract for the automation.?

In a statement, Escudero said: ?It is fortunate, however, that this problem has cropped up this early, while the Comelec is still in a position to address the problem. It is now incumbent upon the Comelec to find a way?within the parameters of the law?to continue implementation of poll automation, such as pilot-testing poll automation in two highly urbanized areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao?which it failed to do when it awarded the contract to Smartmatic/TIM.

?Should the Comelec determine that poll automation is now unfeasible given time constraints, it should now prepare itself for the manual implementation of the elections. What is important ... is that the elections?manual or automated?are clean, honest, transparent, and accurately reflect the will of the people.

Automation now unlikely

Henrietta De Villa, chair of the poll watchdog group Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said she was ?saddened? by the turn of events.

?This should be investigated,? she said.

Lawyer Sixto Brillantes said that whatever reason Smartmatic?s partner had for backing out, it had to be big because the consortium would be shouldering ?substantial? liabilities.

?They would have liabilities because they already submitted themselves to the bidding process,? Brillantes said in a phone interview.

He also said nationwide automation was unlikely to happen. The Comelec?s best option is to automate elections in pilot areas, and then opt for nationwide automation in 2013, the lawyer added. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Michael Lim Ubac, Kristine L. Alave, Leila B. Salaverria