MANILA, Philippines—Whether it’s going to be a real marriage, or one of convenience, or at gunpoint, the union must proceed for the sake of next year’s election automation.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) ordered on Tuesday the two companies in the consortium that won the bidding to computerize the balloting to iron out differences and come to an agreement by Friday in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the project.

Comelec Chair Jose Melo called executives of Total Information Management Corp. and Smartmatic International to a closed-door meeting a day after TIM president Jose Mari Antunez told the poll body it was pulling out of the partnership over “irreconcilable differences.”

Officials said the ostensible breakup that raised the possibility of a manual instead of an automated balloting in 2010 was prompted by disagreements on who should control the purse in the P7.2-billion deal and make decisions. (See related story on Page A8.)

With Melo acting as referee, executives of the Barbados-based Smartmatic and TIM, its local counterpart, were given two days to work out a compromise and submit their joint venture incorporation papers so that the tender they won could move forward.

50-50 chance

“I told them in a joking manner that they will be the ones to decide on what type of marriage will they have: a marriage of convenience, a shotgun marriage or a real marriage,” Melo said.

After the hourlong meeting at the Comelec office, Smartmatic and TIM officials agreed to continue their discussions, Comelec officials said.

“There is now a 50-50 percent chance that they may come into accommodation of each other,” Melo said. “They want to go through with the project definitely because this will reflect on their reputations.”

News blackout

Aside from ordering Smartmatic and TIM officials to return to the negotiation table, Melo also prohibited officials of the two companies and the Comelec from talking to the media about the state of the deal until Friday.

“No one talks to the media to fuel disagreements,” Melo said.

Smartmatic and TIM edged out six other bidders in a monthlong bidding process in May to secure the contract to provide the Comelec electronic voting machines and information technology management for the 2010 national and presidential elections.

The group made the lowest bid of P7.2 billion to supply Comelec with more than 80,000 counting machines that would reduce to two days the vote count instead of weeks.

Comelec officials said the conflict between Smartmatic and TIM stemmed from disagreements on who should control the finances and the decision-making process.

TIM officials said they were being edged out of the negotiations and had little say over important matters.

Smartmatic executives, on the other hand, said they had the technical expertise on conducting electronic elections and should play a bigger role.

Partial automation

Comelec officials said they were not giving up on the plan to have electronic elections in the 2010 national and presidential polls, despite the conflicts between the two companies that emerged a few days before the contract for the landmark project was to be signed.

Now that the two companies were talking—the last time they had contact with each other was seven days ago—Melo expressed cautious optimism that the two firms would find a compromise and fulfill their commitment.

Officials of the two companies also voiced determination to push through with the computerization project, acknowledging that backing out of the lucrative deal would erode their credibility, Melo said.

In case Smartmatic and TIM fail to reach an agreement, the Comelec said it would consider several options to ensure that balloting would be held in 2010.

Melo said the poll agency was looking into the possibility of holding partial automated polls where only voters in urban areas would cast their votes electronically.

Manual vote last resort

This option, however, is complicated and legally questionable because it will mean another bidding process that will take too much of Comelec’s time and resources, Melo said, stressing that the law mandates the Comelec to hold nationwide electronic elections in 2010.

Melo has said holding manual elections was the last option. He made it clear that the Comelec wanted the two parties to compromise for the nationwide poll automation to happen.

Manual voting and canvassing, he said, would open the door for election operatives to manipulate election results.