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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Elections to proceed as scheduled: Abalos
MANILA -- With or without the automated vote-counting machines, the May 10 elections will proceed, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. assured Monday.
"You can't postpone it. Tuloy na tuloy yan (It's a go)," said Abalos.
Even Malacaņang said the elections should push through, no matter what.
Abalos gave the assurance to allay fears that the elections will be postponed, pending resolution by the Supreme Court of a petition seeking to nullify the contract that would automate the counting system.
Abalos said even the pending petition and the question on whether to partially automate the elections would not stop the commission from conducting the political exercise four months from now.
Although he admits it is possible for Comelec to move the May
10 elections, Abalos said they would rather hold the elections in its original date as this gives them enough time to prepare.
A group of information technology experts filed a petition before the
High Tribunal seeking the nullification of the contract awarded to Mega
Pacific eSolutions on the purchase of the 1,991 automated counting machines (ACMs).
In its petition, the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP) said the contract awarded to Mega Pacific should be nullified because the winning bidder failed to comply with the technical requirements of the commissioner.
No to postponement
President Arroyo is waiting for the SC to decide on the petition filed by the ITFP before acting on the Joint Congressional Resolution (JCR) on selective automation.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo will "neither veto nor approve" the JCR because she feels that it would be resolved by the SC.
The JCR, which was received by Malacaņang last December 15, would automatically lapse into law if not acted upon after 30 days.
He said the SC decision on ACM contract will have "very serious implications" on the joint resolution.
He said there is a possibility that the SC decision would render it moot and academic.
"But we are not speculating what the decision of the SC would be in a few days or in a week's time," he said.
This developed as Arroyo said in a statement that her administration will make sure that the May 10 elections will push through as scheduled.
"I disagree with any plan to defer or postpone the elections," she said.
Ruling
The SC is expected to come out with a ruling this week, court officials said.
But if SC declares that the contract is legal, the automated counting system will push through.
At least 1,991 counting machines will be deployed by Comelec to 1,614 cities and municipalities nationwide.
With the use of the ACMs, results of the canvassing and winners would be known in 24 hours.
The SC, earlier required Comelec to inform the court on the number of ACMs delivered by the winning bidder, the MegaPacific Consortium; the number of ACMs that have already been paid for; and the total payment made for the purchase of the machines.
The SC also required the commission to submit a signed certification from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) attesting to the number of ACMs that were tested and found to be in good condition and the number of those found defective, and whether the reprogrammed software has been tested and found to have complied with the requirements of the Election Modernization Law
The law mandates the computerization of vote-counting and canvassing since the processes have been identified as most vulnerable to wholesale cheating.
The ITFP, which lost in the bidding, is the umbrella organization of major IT groups in the country. It claimed that the contract with MegaPacific Consortium is invalid because the consortium is not a legal entity.
MegaPacific Consortium is composed of Mega-Pacific e-Services, Inc., ePLDT, election.com, WeSolv Philippines, and SKC&C but it appears that it doesn't have clear binding contracts that tie the members of the consortium to the contract. Marie Neri/ST
(January 13, 2004 issue)
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