By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA, Dec. 17 (PNA) — A group of technology professionals is also pushing for the Commission on Elections-Bids and Awards Committee (Comelec-BAC) to declare as ineligible Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) to participate in the bidding and refurbishment of voting machines for the 2016 national and local polls.
In a letter addressed to Comelec-BAC chairperson Helen Aguila-Flores, Philippine Computer Society (PCS) president Leo Querubin questioned the former’s decision to allow the Venezuela-based company to join the bidding despite incomplete eligibility documents.
He cited the lack of Tax Clearance Certificate of Jarltech, one of Smartmatic’s joint venture members, and its deficient Articles of Incorporation.
“The absence of the Jarltech Tax Clearance Certificate and the deficient Article of Incorporation of Smartmatic-TIM are more than enough grounds to disqualify Smartmatic,” said the official of the PCS, which is composed of 700 members.
Querubin also noted that under Section 2 of the Comelec- issued bid documents, it is stated that: “Bids that fail to include any requirement or are incomplete or patently insufficient shall be considered as failed.”
“As the original set of documents did not include the Tax Clearance Certificate of Jarltech, then Smartmatic failed the eligibility requirement. This is a non-discretionary criterion. It is not up to the BAC to vote whether Smartmatic is eligible or not,” he added.
Likewise, the PCS official is convinced that Smartmatic should not be allowed to participate in any bidding activities since its Articles of Incorporation was “for the automation of the 2010 national and local elections.”
“Technically, this means that the Smartmatic-TIM does not exist anymore. The argument of Smartmatic that the secondary purpose stated in the Articles of Incorporation is a blanket cover to provide election services is also intentionally premised on the wrong interpretation of the document,” Querubin said.
Earlier, the Comelec-BAC voted 3-2 to declare Smartmatic eligible to bid while another bidder, Indra Sistemas, S.A. got a unanimous vote for submitting complete documents.
But the committee chair noted that the decision does not matter when they reach the second level of the two-stage bidding process.
Meanwhile, the Comelec-BAC is not taking any action on the appeal filed by an election watchdog to have Smartmatic –TIM blacklisted.
The Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) filed a motion for reconsideration (MR) seeking the reversal of the committee’s decision junking its petition to prohibit Smartmatic from joining any bidding for the 2016 polls.
“We took note of the MR and decided not to take any further action… In short, we did not entertain the appeal to blacklist Smartmatic-TIM,” Flores said. (PNA)