Palace tells Smartmatic critics to bring case to SC

A Malacañang official dared critics yesterday to file a case in the Supreme Court to formally question the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to renew the contract of Venezuela-based Smartmatic Inc. to supply vote counting machines (VCMs) for the May 2019 polls.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the Palace respects the decision of the Comelec but critics of the project should just bring their issues to the High Tribunal.

“Well again, the Commission on Elections is an independent constitutional commission, we respect their decision,” he said.

Roque issued the statement amid allegations of a midnight deal approved by outgoing Comelec acting chairman Christian Robert Lim, who signed the poll body’s decision three weeks before his scheduled retirement last Friday.

Presidential political affairs Secretary Francis Tolentino denounced the secrecy under which the Comelec shrouded its decision to extend its contract with Smartmatic without the required public bidding.

“It is highly irregular that a contract of such national significance was consummated bereft of the acquired transparency needed by the electorate,” Tolentino said last week.

Tolentino, though, stopped short of calling it a “midnight deal,” as he demanded full disclosure of this renewal of the Smartmatic contract.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez confirmed Tolentino’s disclosure but denied that it was a midnight deal.

The poll body failed to say why it did not make any official or public notice about its decision.

Jimenez explained that the commission made a unanimous decision to exercise its “option to purchase” the VCMs because the budget approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for next year’s elections is not enough.

President Duterte already has a shortlist for the replacement of Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Arthur Lim, both appointees of former president Benigno Aquino III, whose terms expired last Friday.

According to Roque, Duterte will soon announce the appointment of the new members of the seven-person body.

A lawyer of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday expressed concern over the renewal of the contract of Smartmatic Inc. for the midterm elections in May 2019.

Instead of renewing the contract to supply VCMs, Marcos’ lawyer Vic Rodriguez said Smartmatic should have been blacklisted for several violations that it has committed.

“It’s a pity that Filipinos could not freely decide in our elections,” Rodriguez said in a news forum in Quezon City. –