Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero has allayed fears of a “no elections” scenario in 2016 following the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to nullify a P268.8-million warranty contract awarded by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. (Smartmatic-TIM) for the repair and maintenance of 82,000 voting machines for the upcoming polls.
READ: SC scraps P269-M Comelec-Smartmatic warranty deal
“Postponing the elections is not possible. Under the Constitution and even under our laws, elections cannot and should not be postponed. Comelec has no power to do that. Their only mandate is to supervise elections in our country every three years. And precisely because elections happen only every three years, there is no reason for the Comelec not to do it effectively,” Escudero said in a statement on Wednesday.
READ: ‘No-El’ fears in 2016 as SC junks Smartmatic deal
He urged Comelec to not appeal the decision of the SC, saying that it should consider doing another bidding for the contract which was made possible under Comelec Resolution No. 9222.
“Para sa akin, mag-bidding na sila at huwag nang umapela sa korte upang sa gayon ay mas magkaroon sila ng sapat na panahon para dumiskarte at gumalaw pa ng naaayon sa SC decision (For me, they should hold another bidding and not appeal so that they can act in accordance to the SC’s decision),” the senator said in the statement.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
“Lalo na at unanimous ang desisyon ng korte, malamang hindi na ’yan babaligtarin (Since the decision was unanimous, it will be difficult to reverse it),” he said.
Escudero urged the poll body to tell both chambers of Congress if it needed more funds to address technical issues for the 2016 elections.
“Kung may kailangan pa silang dagdag na gastusin, ipagbigay alam nila sa amin para sa lalong madaling panahon maaksyunan ng Kongreso at maibigay ang kinakailangang pondo para sa automated elections sa 2016 (If they still need more funds, they should tell the Senate immediately so that Congress can act on it and provide the amount needed for the 2016 automated elections),” he said.
In its decision, the SC said that Comelec “failed to justify its resort to direct contracting with Smartmatic-TIM.”
Petitioners Automated Elections System Watch and Integrated Bar of the Philippines said that the SC needed to nullify the Comelec resolution because it violated the Constitution and the Republic Act No. 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Law. RC
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