Sen. Francis Escudero on Friday said he is uncomfortable with the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) blind desire to automate the elections, which may lead to a failure of the 2010 elections.

"Hindi ako komportable sa Comelec mismo. Base sa aking nakita, masyado yatang nabubulagan ang Comelec sa kagustuhan nitong mag-automate (I'm not comfortable with Comelec. It seems blinded by its desire to automate [the elections])," Escudero told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."

The senator, who is anticipated to declare his intention to run for president in 2010 when he turns 40 in October, said the Comelec seems to believe that automation is a "cure all" medicine to reform the country's electoral system.

"Mag-automate tayo 'pag handa tayo, 'pag kaya natin. Kung gagawin ito ay siguraduhin sana na magiging successful at hindi failure of elections lamang ang kalalabasan (We should automate [the elections] if we are really ready, if we are capable. If we're doing this, the Comelec should make sure that it will be successful and it will not result in the failure of elections)," the senator said.

The senator said he is also uncomfortable with the consortium of Smarmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) Corp., which won the P7.4-billion automation contract.

In a separate Umagang Kay Ganda interview, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento denied the poll body is blindly forcing the automation. He said the body is acting aggressively on the automation because it has no choice, but to abide by the law.

"We have no choice because this is the law, Republic Act 9369, which was approved by Congress and signed by the President in 2007. We have no choice but to implement the poll automation law...," Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento said the Comelec is just waiting for Smatmatic-TIM a joint venture agreement from the Securities and Exchange Commission before officially signing the multi-billion automation project.

The contract signing was supposed to happen Friday, but was moved to July 1 because of the absence of the incorporation document.

Due diligence

During a four-hour Senate hearing on Wednesday, Escudero and other senators questioned the Comelec's diligence in awarding the poll automation contract to Smartmatic-TIM.

Escudero and Enrile expressed fears during the hearing that the country maybe heading toward a failure of elections in 2010 because of the Comelec's failure to carefully scrutinize the consortium's credentials.

The senators questioned the Smartmatic's papers, which should have been authenticated by the Philippine Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela and not the Philppine Embassy in Washington.

Escudero, quoting Foreign Secretary Franklin Ebdalin, said the company, which is based in Barbados, should have asked the embassy in Venezuela to authenticate its papers.

The senator also expressed fear on the Comelec's too much trust with the Smartmatic-TIM, which is subcontracting the deployment of the 80,000 machines to a forward firm To Go, which is owned by the Aboitiz family.

He also questioned the company's P1.5 billion capital, which is way lesser than the P7.4 billion contract price.

Escudero said Smarmatic will "fry us in our own fat" by using the government's money to carry out its part of the contract.

What we pay them, that’s what they are going to use for the automation,” the senator said.