Junk petitions vs Smartmatic deal, Comelec asks high court

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) have asked the Supreme Court to junk the petitions against its P300-million direct contract with Smartmatic-TIM (Total Information Management) Corp. for the assessment maintenance and repair of some 80,000 voting machines ahead of the May 2016 elections.

In a consolidated comment, the poll body and its BAC said the deal for repairs and maintenance of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines was aboveboard, sanctioned by an en banc resolution and was approved within the bounds of direct contracting provisions under the government procurement law.

Responding to petitions filed by the Automated Election System (AES) Watch, represented by Bishop Broderick Pabillo, and the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E), the Comelec en banc and the BAC said the poll body “did not commit a grave abuse of discretion” in sealing the deal with Smartmatic-TIM, through Comelec Resolution No. 9922.

“Petitioners claimed the resolution was ‘tailor-fitted to satisfy the palate of Smartmatic-TIM’ and insinuated that Smartmatic TIM ‘enjoyed undue accommodation from the elections manager,’” read the consolidated answer, filed on Feb. 16 through the Office of the Solicitor General.

“Comelec takes offense at petitioners Pabillo et al.’s baseless and unsubstantiated accusation. The truth is Comelec complied with (the government procurement law) and, most importantly, its mandate ‘to ensure honest, clean orderly and peaceful elections,’” it said.

The AES and C3E petitions had asked the high court to stop the deal, saying it violated the requirement for a public bidding in any state-funded contracting, whether for goods or services.

A third petitioner, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, filed a similar suit. The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Comelec and Smartmatic to comment on the petition separately.

In calling the first two legal actions “devoid of merit,” the Comelec said the direct contracting provisions of the government procurement act allowed agencies to forego with a public bidding when a contract involves goods “of proprietary nature, which can be obtained only from the propriety source,” and “sold by an exclusive dealer or manufacturer.”

It asserted that the Smartmatic manufactured PCOS machines and the direct contracting deal were “most advantageous to the government.”

The Comelec also cited the time factor if the contract were to be bid out.