Former solon seeks Miru contract TRO
‘That’s where the problem will be because it will affect our preparations, that’s why we really followed our timeline’
Former Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice on Thursday has filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court (SC) to declare null and void the contract between the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and South Korean firm Miru for the 2025 midterm elections.
The ex-solon has criticized Miru anew for presenting a prototype machine for Comelec’s evaluation as he stressed that it violates Republic Act 9369.
“Miru has never used it in any election. This is prohibited by law. Our election in 2025 will be a guinea pig if this contract continues,” Erice said. “This very risky, as Miru has many red flags. It’s very dangerous for the 2025 elections when we’re aiming for a peaceful and orderly election.”
Erice then cited an election failure in the Democratic Republic of Congo where they had to postpone their polls for six months because Miru failed to produce machines and pointed another election failure in Iraq where it was found that 79 percent of its election machines produced by Miru were dysfunctional thus it reverted to manual elections.
“Miru has no experience in the Philippine setting. The partner they hired is Timothy Construction, who also has no experience in elections... the IT provider also has no experience,” Erice said. “So it’s very dangerous if they will manage our elections.”
The former lawmaker also alleged that the contract was “highly anomalous” and called it “a robbery in progress” as he contemplates filing an impeachment complaint against Comelec officials.
To recall, the poll body awarded the contract for vote-counting machines for the 2025 polls to Miru System worth P17.9 billion, lower than the poll body’s budget of P18.8 billion. The contract included 110,000 automated counting machines, 104,345 ballot boxes, and 2,200 consolidated canvassing system servers/ laptops and printers.
It also includes the printing of 73,851,934 ballots, ballot papers, and ballot verification.
On Wednesday, the SC overturned the ban on automated election system provider Smartmatic preventing it from bidding poll contracts and the High Court also disclosed that the Comelec committed a grave abuse of discretion. It, however, said that the ruling does not affect the contract of Miru Systems.
Meantime, Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said that they will face the complaints filed against the poll body.
“We will face it, we will embrace it and we also welcome it if they want to question the awarding of Miru Systems,” Garcia said.
However, he said that if the petition were to be granted, they will face a major problem ahead of the 2025 polls.
“That’s where the problem will be because it will affect our preparations, that’s why we really followed our timeline,” Garcia said. “So any day of delay, our election in 2025 will be compromised and sacrificed.”