Smartmatic disqualified from Comelec procurements: Garcia

MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — Elections technology provider Smartmatic Philippines can no longer participate in any Commission on Elections procurement, according to Comelec chairman George Garcia.

In a resolution, the poll body said the allegations of bribery and compromised procurement processes by the United States government against former Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista and Smartmatic, posed an “imminent threat to the strength and integrity” of the Philippines’ democratic processes.

In October 2022, the United States government, through the Philippines’ Department of Justice, requested official documents from the Comelec en banc in relation to its investigation against Bautista and other individuals.

In September 2023, Bautista was formally charged due to allegations of receiving bribes in exchange for awarding Smartmatic the contract to provide election machines for the 2016 elections.

The resolution says: “Bautista and others are alleged to have laundered the bribe money through multiple entities.”

Bautista supposedly “established a foreign shell company, which was used to receive bribe payments from Smartmatic.”

According to the Comelec, “these allegations not only undermine and cast a shadow over the procurement protocols but also threaten to erode the public’s confidence in the electoral system.”

Hence, the Comelec said it is compelled to disallow Smartmatic from participating in any procurement process.

The decision has nothing to do with the petition of former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio, Jr. and his group, which claimed irregularities in the 2022 elections such as discrepancies in transmission logs and reception logs of election returns.

Rio’s group asked Comelec to disqualify Smartmatic from participating in the 2025 automated election system.

But the Comelec en banc insists that no irregularities happened during the 2022 polls.

In a message, Comelec Spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco said the decision was based on Chairman Garcia’s directives.

Garcia said their decision is immediately executory unless restrained.

It also means perpetual disqualification for Smartmatic unless Comelec reverses it in the future.

Aside from the poll chief, five other commissioners agreed to dismiss the petition of Rio’s group.

Commissioner Marlon Casquejo did not vote as he was on official business.

Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, however, is against using Bautista’s case as basis for the disqualification saying this “does not warrant an outright condemnation of persons involved in the said foreign criminal case. This case is still pending investigation, and there is no supporting evidence on record.”

Ferolino also said Smartmatic was “not properly notified of the allegations against it” and was not given a chance to explain its side.

'WELCOME MOVE'

Meanwhile, Rio welcomed the Comelec decision to disqualify Smartmatic from participating in any procurement process.

“The DQ of Smartmatic is a welcome move. But the next election system must be transparent, clean and fair. This is where we are advocating a Hybrid Election System that is created by Filipinos for our own National and Local Elections. We must not depend on foreign election system for we have the expertise to do our own Hybrid Election System,” Rio said in a text message.

Rio and his group filed a petition for disqualification against Smartmatic for alleged irregularities in the 2022 elections, but their arguments were dismissed by the Comelec.

Instead, the poll body based its decision on the pending case of former Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista and Smartmatic against the US government.

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