MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) signed Friday the P7.2 billion poll automation contract with the winning consortium, Smartmatic Corporation and Total Information Management (TIM).

Comelec chairman Jose Melo headed the contract signing with Salvador Aque, TIM senior vice president; Armando Yanes, chief financial officer of Smartmatic Corp.; and Juan Villa Jr., chairman of the board of the Smartmatic TIM Corporation.

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The signing was delayed by more than an hour, as it was signed by the parties at 4:45 p.m. The contract signing was originally scheduled at 2 p.m. Friday.

Melo said that "minor editorial changes" on the contract was the reason for the delay.

After signing the contract, the Comelec chairman said: "We can go on automating the elections of 2010."

TRO

The signing of the contract happened Friday despite a petition for temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by lawyer Harry Roque on Thursday.

Roque's petition cited legal flaws in Smartmatic and TIM's juridical personality, among others, as enough bases for the automation project not to be implemented.

The Supreme Court (SC), however, did not act on Roque's petition, clearing the way for the contract signing.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said that since no TRO was issued, the Comelec "can proceed at its own discretion."

Elections chairman Melo said the Comelec and the consortium are confident the High Court will not issue a TRO. He, however, noted that they will be able to answer the petition properly if the SC issued an order and required them to answer the petition filed by the Concerned Citizens Movement.

Aside from other officials from the Comelec and the winning bidders, the signing of the multibillion-peso contract was witnessed by Henrietta de Villa, chairperson of the election watchdog National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel); representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman; and members of the Comelec's special bids and awards committee.

Poll commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Nicodemo Ferrer, Armando Velasco, and Elias Yusof were also present during the signing.

Disrespect

Melo explained that the signing of the 2010 poll automation contract despite a pending petition for TRO should not be considered disrespect for the SC.

He said the poll automation is not like the other government projects that one could set aside if there is a TRO since they follow a timeline.

"Here, we cannot do that because we have to meet some timeline... things have to be set at a particular time," Melo said.

Cesar Flores, international project director of Smartmatic, said the months ahead would be very busy for them as the signing of the contract signals that they will start at full speed with the project.

"We will be conducting meetings with the teams, familiarize each others on our responsibilities, start communicating and start understanding the project," he said.

Likewise, they are set to meet with the members of the project management team of the Comelec.

He noted that they will start manufacturing the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in September. The first batch of the machines will be delivered on November.

More than 80,000 PCOS machines will be utilized in the first-ever automated machines in the country.

Comelec Law Department chief Ferdinand Rafanan said the mode of payment for the P7.2 billion contract will be in 13 deliverables, with the final payment to be paid after the May 2010 polls. (FP/MSN/Sunnex)