MANILA, Philippines – Two election watchdogs personally delivered a joint protest letter to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, January 13, asking the poll body to scrap its decision to enter into a deal with Smartmatic for diagnostics on the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Members of the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) and Automated Election Systems Watch (AES Watch) also picketed outside the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

In their letter, the C3E and AES Watch expressed their gravest concerns over the P300-million deal between Comelec and Smartmatic, approved on December 23, 2014, after a 5-2 vote by the Comelec en banc. The contract has yet to be signed by the Comelec and Smartmatic.

“This holiday rush by the Comelec, led by Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr and Commissioners Elias Yusoph and Lucenito Tagle…is highly suspect and utterly unconscionable in the face of the many unresolved issues involving the defective PCOS machines provided in the last two elections – 2010 and 2013 – by the favored foreign vendor, Smartmatic,” wrote the two groups.

The deal, which is the first part of Smartmatic’s extended warranty proposal, covers diagnostic tests and some minor repairs on the existing 82,000 PCOS machines that will be reused in the 2016 national elections.

Brillantes, Yusoph, and Tagle – among those who voted in favor of the deal – will be retiring from the Comelec on February 2, 2015.

The poll body’s decision, therefore, “smacks of a ‘midnight deal’ and cutting corners citing unacceptable reasons (lack of time) that compromise the provisions of the procurement as well as election laws,” the watchdogs said.

They asked that the Comelec resolution approving the negotiated deal with Smartmatic “be rescinded and any decision to this effect deferred until after the retirement of the 3 outgoing officials… and the appointment of their replacements.”

The groups argued that it “would not cause undue delays to the election preparation, will avoid mistakes, or [will not] create bad perception that comes along with this undue haste.”

“Let us give the incoming Chairman and commissioners the prerogative to exercise their decision over this very critical matter, as they also have the right and duty to review this contract,” the groups said. “Their reputations are at stake for whatever outcome this ‘midnight deal’ will create.”

They also asked the 3 retiring officials, out of propriety and delicadeza, to “inhibit themselves from any long-term decision-making, especially on critical issues involving the questionable counting accuracy of the Smartmatic-provided PCOS technology.”

Public bidding

The C3E and AES Watch also questioned the Comelec’s decision to skip a public bidding for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines.

“Why [did] the Comelec rush to close the deal involving taxpayers’ money of P1.2 billion for the supposed repair of damaged PCOS machines, to be paid exclusively to Smartmatic, against the recommendation of its own legal department for it to be subjected…to public bidding?” the groups asked.

The P1.2-billion figure refers to the approved P300-million deal with Smartmatic plus a proposed P900 million to be spent on actual repairs on the PCOS machines. (READ: Why Smartmatic got deal for PCOS repairs)

“We remain firm that the Comelec should have bidded out the entirety of the refurbishment contract, and that its argument of a lack of time and that Smartmatic has exclusivity over the PCOS [machines] is highly questionable and falls on shallow grounds,” they argued. (READ: Public bidding best option for PCOS repairs?)

They also said that the Comelec now owns the PCOS machines, and that the poll body, after two elections, should have developed its own capacity to conduct repairs on the PCOS machines, “thus, reducing its dependence on foreign outsourcing and cutting costs in the end.”

In addition, the groups reiterated their plea to ban Smartmatic from participating in current and future election projects, on account of “ownership misrepresentation, and non-compliance with election and procurement laws…pertaining to the minimum requirements of a transparent, accountable, accurate, and reliable election system.”

“It is our moral, legal, and natural obligation to stop this blatant mockery of the rule of law in the country and the continued subservience of the Comelec to foreign provider Smartmatic and Cesar Flores who is allowed to malign and libel even reputable Filipino experts and legitimate organizations,” they added.

The groups then suggested to allow “our own Filipino IT [personnel] inside Comelec, government agencies, and independent experts” to help develop appropriate election systems and block “interference of foreign vested interests.”

‘Digital lines’ issue

Among the issues on the PCOS machines that remain unresolved, according to the C3E and AES Watch, is the appearance of “digital lines” on decrypted images of scanned ballots during the May 2013 polls.

These lines “could have affected the results (counting) of the election”, said the groups, citing a report of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The Comelec has yet to release the results of its own probe into the issue.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, public affairs head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), accompanied the two groups during the protest outside the Comelec office on Tuesday.

Pabillo was also among the signatories in the groups’ joint letter, along with former Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman, other IT experts, Church leaders, members of the academe, and leaders of civic and militant groups. – Rappler.com