Comelec starts evaluation of Miru automated poll system

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday started its post-qualification evaluation for the procurement of a new automated election system for the 2025 national and local elections.

In an interview, Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said the poll body conducted end-to-end testing of the prototype machines of lone bidder Miru Systems Company Limited.

“Titignan namin kung fully compliant yung submission nila. So tapos na po kaming tignan yung mga papel, eh continuing pa po yung ibang documents. At this time prine-present sa inyo yung makina para makita natin kung gagana siya in accordance with the requirements of Comelec,” Laudiangco said.

(We will see if their submission is fully compliant. So, we finished looking at the papers and we are still checking other documents. At this time, we are presenting the machines so we can see if they will work in accordance with the requirements of Comelec.)

As part of post-qualification process, the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee on Tuesday conducted a mock election using Miru's vote counting machines (VCMs).

According to a 24 Oras report by Sandra Aguinaldo, participants from the poll body and election watchdog groups such as the Democracy Watch Philippines, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) cast their supposed votes during the activity.

The Comelec said that the voting procedure using the Miru VCMs would not be very different from what voters had become familiar with over the years, including the use of paper ballots.

Although new hardware and software would be deployed for the Miru system, Laudiangco assured that adequate training will be provided to relevant staff.

Post-qualification process

According to Laudiangco, the poll body expects the post-qualification proceedings to last up to 30 days. He said the end-to-end testing is only one part of the post-qualification process and they would still look into the papers, the ballot boxes, and the specifications.

“Kasama na po lahat ‘yan (this includes everything) from the legal, technical, financial documents and all the components,” he said.

He said that all components must pass testing, otherwise the bidder will be disqualified.

“Kung talaga pong magkakaroon ng post-disqualification — at hindi pa po ‘yun ngayon dahil marami pa po tayong ite-test — mangyayari po diyan, magkakaroon po tayo ng second failure of bidding,” Laudiangco said.

(If there will be a post-disqualification — and that will not be right now because we need to conduct more tests — what will happen is we will have a failure of bidding.)

Should there be a second failure of bidding, the spokesperson said Comelec may choose to hold a third competitive public bidding but that this might not be possible due to time constraints.

“Pupunta na tayo sa section 53 ng RA 9184. ‘Yung tinatawag na negotiated procurement na tayo. Hindi porket negotiated procurement ay isa lang po ang kakausapin po namin. Practically, lahat din po sila ay kakausapin namin at iimbitahan po namin sila sumali doon sa negotiations,” he said.

(We will go to Section 43 of RA 9184, what we call the negotiated procurement. Just because it is a negotiated procurement doesn’t mean we will only talk to one bidder. We will talk to everyone and invite them to join the negotiations.)

“Anong magaganap sa negotiations, ipapakita po ulit namin kung anong nire-require ni Comelec. At pagdating sa huli, parang bidding din po ‘yan. Magpapa-submit kami sa kanila ng best and final offer nila,” he added.

(What will happen during negotiations is we will show them what Comelec requires. And after that, there will be something like a bidding. We will ask them to submit their best and final offer.)

Track record

Meanwhile, should Miru pass all the tests, Laudiangco said Comelec may issue a notice of award.

“Magkakaroon na tayo ng contract signing at magkakaroon na ng notice to proceed (we will have a contract signing and we will issue a notice to proceed),” he said.

In December 2023, Democracy Watch Philippines urged Comelec to review the track record of Miru as it "expressed its deep concern over the participation" of the South Korean firm due to its recent "catastrophic failures" and "questioned" projects in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Tuesday, however, Miru maintained that it has a proven track record in delivering its work for electoral processes.

“Throughout the years we have conducted several projects locally and abroad… and developed multiple systems internally for all types of electoral stages,” said Marcelo Daniel Magaña, Miru overseas sales representative .

In January, the poll body deemed Miru to be eligible to proceed with the bidding process. — with a report from Jiselle Anne Casucian/ DVM/ VDV, GMA Integrated News