The Catholic Church on Tuesday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to look for ways to salvage the election automation project by considering other options, including the open election system (OES).

“We will be asking Comelec to look for ways, if there’s any possibility to salvage the automation project,” said Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in yesterday’s Church-organized forum in Intramuros, Manila.

On Monday, Total Information Management (TIM), the local partner of winning bidder Smartmatic Corporation decided to withdraw from their joint venture or consortium due to “irreconcilable differences”. TIM’s withdrawal put the multibillion-peso project in peril as Smartmatic cannot do the project without a local partner.

Also, the consortium of TIM and Smarmatic has yet to register their partnership with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), putting to question the work of the Comelec special bids and awards committee.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo earlier raised the possibility that the poll body may revert to manual elections due to lack of time for another bidding for the poll automation project. Another plan being considered is for the Comelec to tie up with Smartmatic to push ahead with the automation of next year’s elections.

Meanwhile, Malacañang expressed frustration over the derailment of the poll automation project following a breakup of a consortium that won the contract to supply the automated machines.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello, however, said the Palace remains confident the Comelec could still resolve the latest setback in the computerization of the 2010 national and local elections.

Bello admitted that the Palace cannot do anything on the delayed poll automation project because the Comelec has exclusive jurisdiction over the matter.

“This is a big disappointment although this is an election matter and the use of the machinery to conduct automated elections is a concern and responsibility of the Comelec,” Bello said.

“While we can only show our frustration over what happened, we can’t do anything about it. This is an exclusive jurisdiction of the Comelec. We are pretty sure they can handle this problem,” he added.

Bello also made clear the government is not behind the apparent demise of the poll automation project triggered by the pullout of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) from its partnership with Smartmatic Corporation.

Due to the withdrawal of TIM Corp. the rest of the delegation were regularly checked by a team of doctors during the recent foreign visit.

Remonde said the President also plans to rest and get medical checkup during her four-day quarantine.Quitorio urged Comelec to look for all other available options, including the OES being pushed by some Catholic prelates led by CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action Justice & Peace chairman and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

“We were listening to the news earlier and it seems the Comelec itself is kind of looking into a blank wall as to what they should do,” he said.

“This can be one of the options. If we are facing a blank wall, we can look at some other alternatives that we can do,” added Quitorio.

The OES had already been ruled out repeatedly by the Comelec saying it would be against the law to fully automate the election process from voting, counting, transmission and canvassing.

As this developed, the United Opposition (UNO) warned the public of another possible fraud-ridden polls similar to the 2004 national elections marred by the infamous “Hello Garci” scandal.

UNO president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay claimed that connivance between election officials and political candidates remains a possibility if votes are not guarded against fraud.

“Regardless of the system used, we should guard against fraud especially wholesale fraud done with the connivance of some corrupt personnel of the Commission on Election,” Binay said.

Although in favor of poll automation in May 2010, the opposition leader nevertheless warned that the results of computerized canvassing can be considered a failure of election once the system crashes.

“Automation of election is not 100 percent perfect. Although there is no manual intervention in the computerized canvassing, you still cannot be sure of the election results since you do not know what is inside the computer and the system,” Binay said.

The mayor said poll automation can also be vulnerable to massive fraud and cheating and stressed that it lacks the paper trail used in manual canvassing for purposes of double checking.

“A party determined to cheat will look for ways to cheat, regardless of the system,” Binay warned. (with report of Kris Bayos)

Senators want Comelec to check options

Senator Richard Gordon has strong suspicion that problem on profit sharing in the multi-billion contract with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could be the reason why the Total Information Management (TIM) opted to withdraw from its partnership with Smartmatic, the winning bidder for May 2010 poll automation.

Apparently dismayed and alarmed with this development, Gordon did not elaborate but said he will seek an immediate investigation of the matter by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee citing the sensitivity of the matter.

He said the inquiry maybe held on Friday or Monday next week to ferret out the truth behind the sudden withdrawal of TIM from its joint venture with Smartmatic.

“Napakaselan nitong sitwasyon na ito. Hindi ito biro at hindi dapat agad-agad nagde-desisyon ng ganyan ang Comelec dahil ang lumalabas wala na silang magagawa. Dapat pilitin nila dahil yan ang mandato sa kanila ng batas,” he said.

Gordon, however, said that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) must do everything in its capacity to push through with the automation of the May 2010 Elections amidst the statement of Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said that there is a slim chance of having automated elections next year after the pull-out of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) from its joint venture with Smartmatic to supply the poll body with the voting machines.

“The country cannot be held hostage by just one bidder. We have fought long and worked hard for the passage of this law. And now that we are about to have it, the Comelec cannot just give up too quick and surrender the fate of the whole country to one entity,” he added.

For his part, Sen Francis Escudero said he was not surprised at all by the turn of events.

“It is fortunate, however, that this problem has cropped up this early, while the Comelec is still in a position to address the problem. It is now incumbent upon the Comelec to find a way––within the parameters of the law––to continue implementation of poll automation, such as pilot-testing poll automation in two highly urbanized areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao––which it failed to do when it awarded the contract to Smartmatic/TIM,” Escudero said.

Senator Francis Pangilinan blasted the Comelec on its botched bidding process to automate the 2010 national election.

“It sends the impression that government is inutile and incapable of providing urgent reforms. It suggests that our leaders are incapable of seeking solutions and fulfilling the most basic requirement of any democracy, which is a clean and honest election process. If government were a private corporation, it would have closed shop a long time ago for failure to meet its bottom lines, and its CEO and its top management team would have been fired,” Pangilinan said.

Gordon said there are still options for the Comelec after the TIM withdrew from the contract.