MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) would be highly dependent on the ability of the poll automation winning bidder to deliver critical aspects of the 2010 elections, lawmakers pointed out Tuesday.

At the hearing of the constitutional amendments and electoral reforms committee in the Senate, Comelec officials were scored for leaving most of the decisions about logistics and communication facilities to the consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management Corp (TIM).

These logistical tasks involve the availability and distribution of the counting machines nationwide—even in the farthest islands of the country—before the election day in May 2010.

Senators noted that the Comelec officials have not yet ironed out these tasks considering it is just three days before Comelec awards the P11.3 billion poll automation project to Smartmatic-TIM.

Storage and delivery

Senator Francis Escudero, chair of the committee, noted that Comelec is not just requiring Smartmatic-TIM to provide over 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines; the Comelec has also left the task of identifying the storage and delivery areas for the equipment to the consortium and its subcontractors.

In their presentation earlier, Comelec executive director Jose Tolentino pointed out 50 provinces and cities that would serve as hubs and sub-hubs for, or drop-off points of, the PCOS machines.

From the central warehouse located in Bulacan, the counting machines would be taken to and stored in the hubs before they are transported to 80,000 polling precincts in various parts of the Philippines.

When asked for their criteria in identifying the hubs, however, Tolentino said that job was left to 2GO, an Aboitiz-owned nationwide freight company tapped by Smartmatic-TIM to map the drop-off points.

Tolentino said that 2GO, which has the commercial experience for delivering goods nationwide, has studied and calculated that the PCOS machines would be transferred “29 percent via land and 55 percent via sea” from the Bulacan central warehouse to the hubs.

From the hubs, the equipment would be taken “56 percent via land and 15 percent via sea then land” to the clustered precincts.

Senator Richard Gordon echoed Senator Escudero’s concern about the logistics of moving the PCOS machines from the Bulacan warehouse to their precinct destinations. He said the Comelec should have assumed this responsibility.

“We need a plan from you [Comelec],” Senator Gordon said, stressing that the Comelec should have a say on the appropriate transportation plan for the machines.

Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile then instructed the Comelec officials to “review,” and if needed, “redo” the choice for the hubs.

Communication woes

The next concern was ensuring that there will be enough electricity to guarantee that the voting and counting activities will proceed smoothly.

Smartmatic-TIM spokesperson Cesar Flores said they would provide the communication facilities needed even in remote areas of the country. For places without electricity, Flores explained that the PCOS machines have batteries that could run for an additional 12 hours.

“Once we sign this contract, we will survey the precinct conditions, their power conditions and telecommunications,” Flores said. “For areas with no coverage, we will provide them with satellite transmissions.”

He added that they would also distribute IP radios.

The bigger issue, however, is timing. Smartmatic-TIM has yet to determine how many precincts will need satellite transmissions or IP radios.

Comelec’s Tolentino said that since the list of the polling precincts is yet to be finalized given the changing statistics on registered voters, site survey could also be completed only after voter registration ends by October this year.

As of April 20, 2009, Comelec listed 44 million voters from 80 provinces.

Enrile was not convinced. He cited the country’s archipelagic makeup and the challenge it translates into to provide and prepare the transmission facilities in places as far-flung as Jolo in Mindanao and those situated in the Kalayaan islands.

“Our country is different from other countries. If you could demonstrate to us how are you going to do it in places in the Turtle islands, we will believe you,” Enrile dared the officials.

Plan B: Back to manual?

Smartmatic-TIM would provide 82,200 PCOS machines, of which the 2,000 would be back-ups. Each machine costs P50,000.

Comelec explained the following incentive for Smartmatic-TIM to make certain that their PCOS machines will not malfunction on election day:
• If 2,000 machines conk out during the elections, the government would not pay for the cost of the machines. Smartmatic-TIM would lose compensation for about P100,000
• If more than 2,000 conk out, Smartmatic-TIM would lose compensation for twice the amount, or P200,000.

Gordon warned that problems in the equipment could have dire consequences on the elections, citing opportunities for cheating and a failure of elections.

“We don’t to be another Iran,” the lawmaker said.

But what if, on election day itself, the PCOS machines failed to scan, print, transmit and consolidate ballots?

Tolentino said that the affected precincts would have to wait for the machine of the nearest precinct to finish its computation. Then the same counting machine “would be reconfigured to accept the ballots from other precincts.”

He added that this would entail transferring the machine from one precinct to another.

This did not sit well with Gordon, however, who said that this invites “anybody to just insert a memory stick to reconfigure the machine.”

Gordon said Comelec should be the one to make the decision if there is a need to go back to manual counting when PCOS machines start to break down.

Smartmatic-TIM’s Flores agreed. “The contingency plan is to bring a new machine, but the decision [to go back to manual counting] would be up to Comelec.”

Incorporation papers

Meanwhile, Comelec officials were also hit for not verifying that Smartmatic-TIM’s Articles of Incorporation and By-laws were authenticated by the proper authority. .

Smartmatic-TIM’s secretary certificate was authenticated by the Philippine embassy in Washington, DC, instead of the consulate in Caracas, Valenzuela. The Department of Foreign Affairs issued a memorandum in 2006 stating that the latter, and not Washington D.C., has jurisdiction over the Barbados-based company, Escudero noted.

“Do your homework,” he told Comelec. Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, chair of the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee admitted that he did not exert additional efforts to verify such information because “this issue was not obvious.”

Rafanan promised that such concern would be addressed during the “post-qualification assessment.”

Escudero clarified, however, that the committee could not stop Comelec from inking the multibillion-peso deal with Smartmatic-TIM inspite of the identified loopholes.

But he encouraged the poll body to review the contract even for a day before they sign it.

Gordon, on the other hand, said that if the deal with Smartmatic-TIM is deemed too questionable by other parties, they could ask the Court to decide on its legality.