MANILA, Philippines — The Palace sought on Thursday to distance President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from the poll automation contract mess, claiming that the local partner of the winning bidder had worked for the opposition in the 2004 presidential elections.

Jose Mari Antuñez, head of local IT provider Total Information Management Corp. (TIM), did not have close ties to Ms Arroyo or First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Undersecretary Danilo Consumido said in a text to reporters.

If at all, TIM conducted quick count operations for the camp of then opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr. during the May 2004 presidential elections, he said. Poe lost to Ms Arroyo in the final count.

“It’s closer to the opposition because it conducted the quick count for the FPJ camp,” Consumido of Malacañang’s Office for External Affairs later said in a phone interview.

He acknowledged that TIM could have provided a “professional service” for the opposition camp.

Consumido cited an unnamed insider at TIM as his source. He said he was “standing by” the information.

In the phone interview, Consumido said that TIM conducted the quick count at the house of Melo Santiago, owner of Melo’s restaurant and a friend of former President Joseph Estrada.

“They abandoned the count when President Macapagal-Arroyo was winning. In other words, they knew GMA won,” he said.

Antuñez who?

When reminded that Antuñez met Ms Arroyo and Mike Arroyo in 1994, a decade before TIM worked for the opposition in 2004, Consumido said: “I don’t know anything about that.”

Antuñez has admitted that then Senator Arroyo and her husband attended the 1994 ribbon-cutting of TIM’s business recovery service center as special guests.

Undersecretary Anthony Golez said that the First Couple’s presence at the inauguration of TIM’s facility should not be construed that they have close ties with Antuñez.

“It doesn’t follow,” the deputy presidential spokesperson told reporters, pointing out that Ms Arroyo attends thousands of ribbon-cutting activities as a public official.

Golez scoffed at insinuations that the Arroyo family could have influenced Antuñez to break away from Smartmatic to sabotage next year’s automated elections.

GMA’s dream

“It has been the dream and aspiration, particularly the President, from the time that she set foot in her office to have fully automated elections in 2010,” he said.

Golez dismissed suggestions that Ms Arroyo reach out to TIM and Smartmatic to thresh out their differences.

“To begin with, the President is not involved or any member of the First Family is not involved. So the President or any member of the family doesn’t have to reach out to anybody,” he said.

Golez welcomed House lawmakers’ plan to open an inquiry into the automation contract mess, including TIM’s ties with the Aboitiz family, which is close to the Arroyo family.

“That’s their mandate. That’s good because we will find out that all these allegations of critics are malicious,” he said.

Close to many families

When asked about the Arroyo family’s ties with the Aboitiz family, he said: “The Arroyo family is close to so many other families in this country.”

Golez indicated that Malacañang was still hopeful Comelec could carry out full automation, but was open to the idea of partial automation as long as this was allowed by law.

“I’ve talked about our aspiration for full automation. But if that doesn’t happen, what’s in the law? That’s at the very minimum. We must be doing what’s within our laws,” he said.