MANILA, Philippines?Jose Mari Antuñez, the head of local IT provider Total Information Management Corp. (TIM), denied on Wednesday he had demanded P500 million for next year?s election computerization program, or that he was close to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.

?The first and only time that I met the First Gentleman in person or ever spoke to him was in 1994 during the blessing of TIM?s business recovery service center,? Antuñez said in a brief interview.

He said that Ms Arroyo, who was then a senator, did the ribbon-cutting during the occasion.

Antuñez brushed aside Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin?s claim that he had demanded half a billion pesos from TIM?s foreign partner, Smartmatic International Corp., to proceed with a joint venture agreement and allow the bid the consortium won to move forward and sign a formal contract with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

?It?s absolutely not true. We didn?t ask for anything,? he said.

Antuñez declined further comment in deference to a Comelec request that the two companies refrain from making public statements while their differences were being sorted out.

The Comelec has given the two parties until Friday to come to an agreement and another 10 days to work on the incorporation of the joint venture company that will handle the automation of next May?s balloting.

Major bone of contention

Another TIM source said the company was willing to execute the joint venture agreement for as long as the safeguards TIM wanted would be incorporated in the bylaws: That the company to be formed would be 60 percent owned by TIM and 40 percent by Smartmatic.

The source said TIM had not changed its mind about the joint venture, as originally conceptualized, and was unwilling to accept provisions in the bylaws that could reduce its capability to check and balance the joint venture company?s financial disbursements.

The major bone of contention, the source noted, was that the proposed framework would give Smartmatic absolute control of the purse.

?What if there are questionable disbursements, such as an overpriced supply contract? There should be dual signatories,? the source explained.

Deadline can?t be met

The source added that there was a chance that the joint venture deal could be fixed, as TIM?s concern was but a basic procedural requirement in any joint venture.

?It?s not difficult to do that,? the source said. But the source could not assess what the chances were of the differences being resolved by Friday, the deadline given by the Comelec.

It?s also up to Smartmatic to agree to the deal, the source noted, adding that a P1.13-billion bank funding for the Smartmatic-TIM joint venture was available for incorporating the company.

Under the contract, the Comelec would have paid the providers P7.19 billion for the lease of goods and purchase of services.

The source said Smartmatic had approached TIM for this joint venture.

3rd party backed out

Smartmatic had also sought partnership with TIM for last year?s pilot computerized election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the source said.

But as the company was already working with another partner at that time, TIM declined and Smartmatic instead teamed up with the group of businessman Cesar Quiambao.

In the end, TIM and its partner Indra did not participate in the undertaking.

This time around, the source said, TIM agreed to join the consortium because a reputable third party was supposed to be part of it. Along the way, however, this third partner backed out of the project.

Who is Antuñez?

Antuñez was into IT marketing before he turned entrepreneur. He was born in Iloilo but grew up in Cebu. He went to De La Salle University in Manila for college and graduated with a degree in business management in 1973.

From 1973 to 1981, he worked for IT companies in the marketing department but later decided to go on his own. In 1981, he put up Total Interior Manufacturing Corp., likewise with the acronym TIM, and was into the selling of furniture.

But as business went bleak after the 1983 assassination of Ninoy Aquino, Antuñez shifted to IT services by 1985.

TIM now employs about 200 people and provides IT services primarily to the financial sector.