It’s official: Supreme Court upholds automation of 2010 polls

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court upheld yesterday the legality of the automation of next year’s elections.

In dismissing the petition of a group of concerned citizens to void the P7.2-billion automation contract, the SC said the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic Corp.-Total Information Management Inc. did not violate Republic Act 9369, the Poll Automation Law.

Voting 11-3, the SC justices ruled that the automation deal was properly documented and that the petition of the Concerned Citizens Movement had no factual basis.

The SC said the law’s requirement for the Comelec to automate in at least 12 areas “was not a prerequisite for the automation of next year’s elections.”

Republic Act 8436, as amended by RA 9369, indicates the legislative intent for the May 2010 elections to be automated, regardless of whether pilot testing was done in the 2007 elections, the SC added.

The SC took into consideration the Senate’s position that the law does not require the system chosen by the Comelec to be tested in a local election.

It also upheld the government’s argument that Congress has allowed the full automation of next year’s polls even without pilot testing.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno concurred with the majority decision.

In his separate opinion, Puno said: “Absent any capricious and whimsical exercise judgment on the part of the Comelec, its determination of the appropriate election technology, as well as the procedure for its procurement, should be respected. The fear of automation failure should not overwhelm us.”

The nine other justices who concurred with the ruling were Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Renato Corona, Minita Chico-Nazario, Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, and Roberto Abad.

Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Conchita Carpio-Morales and Arturo Brion dissented.

Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing was on leave during deliberations last Tuesday.

The SC decision was written by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.

Comelec ready to pay Smartmatic P360M

Following the SC decision, the Comelec is ready to initially pay Smartmatic P360 million for the counting machines.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said they will pay five percent of the P7.2-billion contract, although Smartmatic is asking for 10 percent.

“We were unable to pay them for a long time so we would release our budget for our initial payment within the week,” he said.

Melo said the Comelec did not release initial payment for the automated machines last July because of the case filed before the SC.

“They were expecting payment on time and was counting on the good faith of the government,” he said.

Melo doubts petitioners will file a motion for reconsideration to stop next year’s automated elections.

“The chances of reconsideration before the Supreme Court are (almost) nil because the justices have thoroughly discussed the case before coming out with a decision,” he said.

Melo: I did not leak decision

Melo belied allegations that he had leaked the SC decision upholding the legality of poll automation next year.

“I don’t have a copy of the decision so how could I leak it,” he said.

In a statement, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Melo was reacting to news reports in the Internet that the SC had already rendered a decision favoring automation.

“There was no leak, and we did not leak the news,” read the statement.

“Chairman Melo was merely verifying reports that we have been receiving from various sources, including queries from the members of the media.”

Jimenez said Melo did not leak the information to the public or the media.

“It is unfortunate as it is in error to imply that Chairman Melo was privy to the deliberations of the court,” read the statement.

“We were on tenterhooks just like everybody else.”

Jimenez said the poll automation case should not be portrayed or compared to the case of retired SC Justice Ruben Reyes.

Comelec all set for automation

A Comelec adviser is confident that it would be “all systems go” for the automation of next year’s elections.

Science and Technology Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña, a member of the Comelec Advisory Council, said starting November, the Smartmatic-TIM will begin training information technology-capable persons from the Comelec and Department of Science and Technology to operate the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

The Comelec representatives will also train 160,000 personnel nationwide who will operate the machines, he added.

De la Peña said the training will be conducted simultaneously from March 1 to April 1, 2010.

“Those who would be trained would have to undergo preparations and certification from the DOST,” he said.

The Office of the Solicitor General said the poll automation contract did not violate Republic Act 9369, the Poll Automation Law.

“The only condition imposed by Congress in RA 9369 for the automation of the 2010 elections is that the AES to be procured must have demonstrated capability and must have been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad,” the OSG said.

Last June, the Comelec awarded the automation project to Smartmatic-TIM, which would provided 82,200 PCOS machines to automate the counting, canvassing, and transmission of votes from precinct to board of canvassers.

Preparations for the project were delayed after a group of concerned citizens asked the SC to void the poll automation contract with Smartmatic.

It prompted the Comelec to go slow on its preparations in anticipation of a temporary restraining order.

However, the automated election in 2008 in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which used both PCOS and direct recording electronic units that served as electronic display ballots, was enough testing ground for automation, De la Peña said. –-Edu Punay (The Philippine Star) with Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores