Comelec exec: Supplier of SD cards should not be paid in full

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon. INQUIRER.net file photo ARIES HEGINA

MANILA, Philippines — An executive from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) believes that the supplier of SD cards should not be paid in full following the glitches encountered during the just recently concluded elections.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said this on Wednesday after the poll body revealed that 1,665 of SD cards provided by S1 company had encountered numerous problems on election day.

“Pero ang gusto kong ia-announce, ito ha, this is my personal view, itong supplier ng SD cards ay hindi namin babayaran ng buo,” Guanzon said in an ambush interview.

“Ipapasuri ko yan, yung proseso ng bidding at yung pag deliver nila ng cards,” she added.

She also said that other commissioners suggested that the poll body should only pay for the SD cards that worked on election day.

Guanzon, however, said that the Comelec en banc still has to decide on the matter.

“Ngayon ang sinasabi naman nila, ‘Ma’am we can pay sa mga gumana naman.’ Well, according to [Commission on Audit], of course naman, we should pay. Kung dineliver ng tama ‘di ba?” Guanzon said.

“Yung hindi nadeliver ng tama, that’s 1,000 plus SD cards, you multiply that, we will not pay. Plus may penalty sila, dapat,” she added.

The Comelec has not yet paid any amount to S1 Technology for the more than 85,000 SD cards bought, Guanzon said.

The contract for between S1 Technologies and the Comelec amounts to P22.6 million.

On Tuesday, the Comelec reported about 1,665 corrupted SD cards, or 1.9 percent of the 85,769 SD cards used in the midterm polls are damaged

The poll body said that one possible reason behind the SD card issues was its poor quality.

“We suspect that the SD card is the low quality of SD cards because if we do the bidding process, our ABC (Approved Budget for the Contract) is about P80 million,” Commissioner Marlon Casquejo, head of the Comelec Steering Committee, said.

“However, since we are applying the procurement rules, the lowest bid (was) only P29 million. So what do we expect with a 29 million SD cards for that scenario?” he added.

The Commission is already eyeing to file penalties against S1 Technologies following the issues. (Editor: Jonathan P. Vicente)

READ: Comelec eyes penalties vs suppliers of faulty VCMs, SD cards, pens

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