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Looks like Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia got his wish when he said the country would be better off with the manual counting of votes rather than full automation of elections next year.
In fact, the Cebuano lawmaker was all set to file a case against the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop its plan to fully automate the 2010 polls because it didn’t implement a dry run first in two major urban areas and one local government unit (LGU) each in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
As it turned out, the Philippine partner to the consortium that just won the contract for the automation of next year's elections withdrew from the partnership and even denied that it demanded P500 million from its Dutch partner Smartmatic.
That pulls the rug from under Comelec plans for automation.
The chances of the country reverting to a hand-by-hand count of votes is higher than ever. It would even be worse if the Palace along with its Congress allies springs its nasty Charter change surprise on the public.
There was still no official explanation on why Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) withdrew from the partnership since they were instructed by the Comelec not to talk to media.
Time is running out to prepare for fully computerized poll counting.
Allegations about the P500 million demand by TIM on Smartmatic evokes foul memories of a previous deal by former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos for automated counting machines (ACM) which continued to be paid for by the national government even though the units were never used.
This makes us wonder if this government or its Filipino partners can ever enter into a contract with a foreign company without asking – or demanding – a sizable cut otherwise known as “tongpats” in the post ZTE-NBN broadband brouhaha?
This underhand practice seems ingrained and even expected in every transaction a prospective investor has to put up with in doing business on a sizeable scale in the Philippines.
Yes, the practice also exists in other underdeveloped and even first world countries. Corruption is not a Filipino monopoly.
But countries don’t progress by building reputations of greed and dishonesty.
If the government can’t lay the groundwork for a business deal as important the country’s first try at automated elections, without getting mired in “tongpats”, what future do we have of maturing as a democracy?
Now that’s precisely what Garcia and other opponents of automated elections are counting on. From the look of things, they got what they wanted.
However, it’s not too late to insist on full transparency in the way the Comelec deals with the winning bidders. We continue to hope that the setback is temporary.
