Escudero wants firms delivering election materials scrutinized (1:25 p.m.)

MANILA -- Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the three logistics firm tasked to deliver election materials including 82,200 precinct count optical scanning (PCOS) machines should be checked by the Commission on Election (Comelec).

Escudero, chairman of the joint congressional oversight committee on automated election, has asked for the criteria used by poll technology provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. (Smartmatic-TIM) in choosing Germalin Enterprises Inc., Argo International Forwarders Inc., and Ace Logistics Inc., to determine their capability in deploying election equipment.

"Data is for actual chargeable weight in freight handled by each company. If these companies do not even get a single digit market share in the business, how can we expect them to deliver 82,000 machines all over the archipelago without hitches?" he said in a statement.

The senator added that based on the latest financial reports of the companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the companies do not have financial capability and enough manpower needed for the task.

The Comelec allotted a 1.66 billion budget for logistics but
Smartmatic-TIM, which was awarded with the P7.2 billion automation contract, put the logistics budget at P916 million only. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)