Carpio: RP's fragile democracy at risk in 2010

MANILA - The justices who voted against automating next year’s polls fear that control of the electoral exercise would be been handed over to a foreign firm.

In their dissenting opinions, Justices Antonio Carpio and Arturo Brion said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) committed grave abuse of discretion when it essentially relinquished the conduct and result of the polls to a foreign company.

This major point, they said, was ignored in the majority opinion upholding the P7.2 billion project signed between Comelec and winning consortium Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM).

The two justices cited the provision in Republic Act 8436 or the original Automation Law, which expressly stated that Comelec shall have “exclusive supervision and control” of the automated elections system.

Brion said this provision means that Comelec shall have “full and exclusive control over the entire process of voting, counting, transmission, consolidation and canvassing of votes, including their performance and completion in the final results.”

But under the automation contract, Comelec abdicated its primary role to control and supervise the elections by allowing the systems provider full powers over the technical aspects.

Smartmatic-TIM reigns supreme

Under the contract, the Barbados-based Smartmatic, as the joint venture partner with the longer track record in automated elections, “shall be in charge of the technical aspects.” These include the counting and canvassing software and hardware, and the transmission, configuration and system integration.

While the automation project is a shared responsibility between the Comelec and the systems provider, “on technical matters, Smartmatic-TIM reigns supreme,” and a careful reading of the contract shows the Comelec “only plays an assisting role…thus raising the direct implication that (Smartmatic) has the lead role in all technical activities,” Brion argued.

Brion noted that while the Comelec retains control of the administrative aspect of the project, automation is essentially technical, and this is under the control of Smartmatic-TIM.

The magistrate pointed to the access or private keys to the computer and digital signatures, which are controlled by Smartmatic-TIM. By giving Smartmatic-TIM control over these, the systems provider practically has control over the results of the elections, Brion said.

As such, Brion said the Comelec “surrendered control of the May 10, 2010 elections and violated its constitutional mandate…”

Automated fraud

Carpio, for his part, echoed Brion’s fear that the results of the elections could be manipulated by the systems provider if it wishes to.

By abdicating its control over the elections to Smarmatic-TIM, Comelec has put at risk the integrity of the elections, Carpio said.

“The Comelec closed the door on manual fraud but opened wide the window to its automated counterpart,” Carpio said.

Carpio maintained that the spirit of law provides that a pilot test of the system should be conducted before a nationwide automation is conducted.

He warned that an untested automation system puts “at a needless risk” the country’s fragile democracy.

Carpio pointed to a possible failure of elections which could result to a power vacuum.

“This is the surest way to defeat the purpose of the entire electoral exercise and put at necessary risk our hard-earned democracy,” he said.