SC junks Smartmatic deal

THE Supreme Court has struck down the government’s P268.8 million contract with Smartmatic-TIM to repair and refurbish vote counting machines to be used in next year’s elections.

This left the poll body with less than a year to find and commission a new service provider to repair about 80,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines before the May 9, 2016 polls. The High Court said the the Commission on Elections (Comelec) failed to justify negotiating a deal with Smartmatic instead of holding a public bidding.

The court agreed with the petitioners – poll watchdog Automated Elections System (AES) Watch led by Auxilliary Bishop of Manila Broderick Pabillo and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines – that Comelec committed a grave abuse of discretion in approving the deal, which was signed by former poll chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. just before he retired in February.

Earlier, Comelec said it did not have enough time to conduct a public bidding before the 2016 elections that is why it awarded the deal to Smartmatic. Smartmatic president Cesar Flores said his company would file a motion for reconsideration.