Solon to push probe on Comelec's new deal with Smartmatic

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon on Saturday said he will ask the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry into the new deal made by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp.

 

In a statement released on Saturday, Ridon said he will ask the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms to look into the new deal "for possible breach of election laws."

 

The Comelec has entered into an agreement with Smartmatic for the lease of 93,000 new Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines that will be used for the 2016 national and local elections.

 

Ridon said the "deal may not be compliant with Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election System Law."

 

He explained that the new OMR machines may not possess the exact specifications and software used in the past elections, thereby needing to undergo renewed evaluation, as provided under RA 9369.

 

Ridon said that RA 9369 states: "With respect to the May 10, 2010 elections and succeeding electoral exercises, the system procured must have demonstrated capability and been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad."

 

At a press conference on Thursday, Comelec chair Andres Bautista announced that the en banc has reached a unanimous decision granting the contract for the additional 70,000 units also to Smartmatic-TIM.

 

Earlier, the P1.72-billion contract for the lease of 23,000 OMR machines was also awarded to the joint venture.

 

Bautista pointed out that the decision was made after consultations with various stakeholders, and a conclusion that "the hybrid system is not viable for 2016."

 

In an interview over state-run dzRB, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said it could not meddle with the contracts entered into by the Comelec.

 

"We defer to COMELEC, being an independent and a separate institution outside of the Office of the President, but we respect the fact that it is their mandate to ensure clean, honest and orderly elections, and how they will do that is up to them as long as it is done within the bounds of the law," Valte said. —ALG, GMA News