No report to back claims that China might sabotage PH 2016 polls: AFP

Smartmatic okays transfer of OMR machines manufacturing from China to Taiwan

THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) yesterday said it has no information regarding reports claiming that China will try to sabotage the 2016 national elections.

AFP spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla said that this was the first time they had heard of such information.

“This is the first time that the AFP received information on the matter and after checking with our concerned staff offices, we found out there is no report in our files to substantiate this. Hence, we could not comment on an issue we know nothing about,” he added.

In a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, Commission on Election Commissioner Christian Robert Lim claimed that a fellow Comelec official received an intelligence report that China might sabotage the 2016 national elections.

Lim said the Comelec en banc was informed of the alleged intelligence report and to avoid complications, the Comelec has decided to transfer the manufacturing of Precinct Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines from China to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Smartmatic Asia Pacific president Cesar Flores has granted the request of the Comelec to transfer the production of optical mark reader (OMR) machines from China to Taiwan.

“We respect the Comelec’s decision and have therefore acceded to the request,” Flores said in a statement issued yesterday.

The Smartmatic official added, “We confirm having received a formal request from Comelec to transfer the manufacturing of the OMR machines from China to Taiwan.”

Flores said that they approved the request despite the fact that they had to shoulder five percent of the total contract price because of the transfer.

“We have agreed to the request despite the fact that such a transfer will force us to shoulder an additional cost amounting to five percent of the total contract price,” he said.

Flores said that “both facilities in China and Taiwan operate under the strictest international standards and are both capable of manufacturing the machines to specifications.”

On Wednesday, Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said that they decided to transfer the manufacturing of the votingmachines that would be used in the May 2016 national and local polls, after receiving intelligence reports that there might be an at- tempt of China to sabotage the forthcoming polls.

“The biggest threat to the 2016 elections is China,” he said.

More than 93,000 OMR units will be utilized in the May 9, 2016 elections.

The Philippines and China are in a dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

In August, the Comelec announced that the OMRs would be made in Suzhou, China.

Smartmatic was also the service provider in the 2010 and 2013 automated elections.