THE P11.3-billion project to automate next year’s elections is back on track, just days after the winning bidders threatened to walk out on the deal.

“We were able to thresh out everything,” Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo said after a three-hour meeting yesterday with officials of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) in the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila.

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The companies signed incorporation papers and the joint venture agreement, he said, a sign that whatever differences they had in recent weeks were already settled.

Melo said he expects the contract with the joint venture company to be signed on July 10, after the two companies file their joint venture incorporation papers early next week before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“We are back to automation,” he said.

The agreement, explained Melo, holds both parties liable in case another “internal” problem crops up.

The consortium will provide 82,200 computerized counting machines to speed up the results to two days, instead of several weeks under the current manual system.

“We heave a big sigh of relief and congratulate Comelec, Smartmatic and Total Information Management for hurdling hopefully the last major obstacle to the full
automation of next year’s polls,” President Arroyo’s political adviser Gabriel Claudio told reporters.

Election officials in Cebu, however, said that even if poll automation pushes through, a dry run on the automated counting machines, while necessary, would be unlikely.

The lack of time to test the counting machines could prove a problem, said Comelec 7 Assistant Regional Director Veronico Petalcorin.

Without a dry run on the use of the counting machines, Petalcorin said, technical problems such as computer glitches could spell trouble for the elections next year.
Early testing of the counting machines could allow poll watchers to trouble-shoot for possible software or hardware problems.

However, Petalcorin added that if Comelec is willing to devote enough time and manpower, this may help alleviate the problems expected in the shift to automation.

Control

At a press briefing, Melo criticized University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque and the rest of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), who threatened to sue the Comelec if they decide to push through with the contract signing.

“I think Atty. Roque did not check his facts well,” Melo said.

He explained that “at the time the bid was conducted, there was already a joint venture agreement between the Filipino (referring to TIM) and foreign company (Smartmatic).”

He added it would also be foolish to require them to incorporate the joint venture partnership if they were not sure they will be declared as the winning bidder to supply the automated machines for next year’s elections.

The joint venture will not have the sole control in the customization of the 82,200 precinct count optical scanners (PCOS).

“We will have control over the whole operation. We will have our project management team and this will be the one giving all the directions,” Melo said.

Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), welcomed the consortium’s decision to push through with its contract for the automation of the May 10, 2010 polls.

He urged the Comelec and those concerned to start working double time so that full automation will maximize the country’s chances of running a clean and credible election.

Forward

The government threatened on Tuesday to sue Total Information for breach of contract, after Smartmatic announced it was pulling out of their partnership with the Filipino firm for unspecified reasons.

However, Smartmatic international sales director Cesar Flores told reporters yesterday the two companies “have already signed all necessary documents for the incorporation of our joint venture” that will implement the automation project.

Jose Mari Antuñez, president and chief executive of Total Information, confirmed that the consortium members had resolved their differences and agreed to “move forward.” (Sunnex)/JKV/(AFP)