SC asked to void Comelec reso for lease of 70,000 OMRs for 2016 polls

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday was asked to declare as illegal a Commission on Elections resolution that paved the way for the lease of 70,977 optical mark reader (OMR) machines for P6.286 billion to be used in the 2016 elections.

 

In a 41-page plea, petitioners Francisco Aguilar Jr. and Guillermo Santos said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in opting to lease the new OMR machines because it would entail "illegal, irregular or unnecessary expenditures to the detriment of the government."

 

They said the lease of new OMRs would be unnecessary because the old precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in previous elections can still be used once refurbished.

 

"An expenditure for something that is not essential, or can be dispensed with without loss or damage, or not responsive to the exigencies of the service, or is useless, or not needed or required by the circumstances of the case, is unnecessary," read the petition.

 

"Not only is taxpayers' money being illegally, irregularly or unnecessarily expended/dissipated in connection with the lease of 93,977 OMR machineries, existing machineries (81,896 PCOS) are allowed to rot in a warehouse rented by the Comelec for P800,000 a month, through non-use and lack of maintenance, refurbishment, and/or upgrade," read the petition.

 

Aguilar was a member of the International Observe Team on the implementation of the first nationwide automated elections in 2010. Santos, meanwhile, is president and chief executive officer of the Center for Philippine Futuristic Studies and Management.

 

The petitioners said the purchase of the new OMR machines violated Article II, Section 7 of Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Act, which states that no government procurement shall be undertaken unless it is in accordance with the approved Annual Procurement Plan of the procuring entity.

 

The petitioners insisted prospective bidder Dermalog has adequately shown it can refurbish and/or upgraded the old PCOS machines.

 

The petitioners also accused the poll body of inhibiting free competition in the market and contravened the policy on monopolies and combinations in restraint of trade.

 

"By not considering other prospective bidders despite their capacity to render practically the same undertakings as those offered by the joint venture between Smartmatic and TIM Corp (Smartmatic JV), the Commission inhibited free competition in the market," read the petition.

 

The petitioners described as "disturbing" the Comelec's "apparent preferment" for Smartmatic JV or Smartmatic, the supplier of the PCOS machines and provider of the election management system in the 2010 and 2013 national and local elections.

 

The Comelec earlier conducted three parallel biddings for the lease with option to purchase 23,000 new OMR units for P2.5 billion, for the 70,977 OMRs, and for the refurbishment (with systems upgrade) of the existing PCOS machines for P2.88 billion.

 

The petitioners quoted observations made by Comelec Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon in a separate opinion that the "weakness of the parallel bidding is that three biddings were done simultaneously." 

 

They said Smartmatic was the dominant supplier in all three biddings, and since the company was the one that supplied the 81,896 PCOS machines, "it has the technical advantage over the other companies."

 

The petitioners scored the Comelec for leaving the old PCOS machines in the warehouse unmaintained and not refurbished, saying this "constitutes wastage of public resources or property, and thus a transgressionof its fiscal responsibility."

 

"Comelec in not opting to re-use the existing PCOS inventory and chose to lease new OMR in the amount of close to P10 billion in taxpayers' money, palpably reneged on its responsibility," they added. — RSJ, GMA News