MANILA — Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia turned down Smartmatic Philippines' offer to the poll body to use the existing vote-counting machines in next year’s polls.

• Smartmatic tells Comelec to use existing VCMs in 2025 polls 'to save billions' 

“Yung offer po nila na bakit hindi gamitin yung luma, dineclare (declared) na po namin sya na unusable na yung mga makina. Dahil meron na pong mga digital lines yung mga makina,” Garcia pointed out 

Smartmatic Philippines in a May 13 letter informed Comelec that it still owns the automated elections systems (AES) software for the election management system, vote counting system and consolidation and canvassing during the 2022 polls.

Speaking at the General Membership Meeting of Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, Garcia maintained that the national government’s policy is towards using new machines in next year’s polls. 

“Ang sabi po ng Supreme Court, kung ano na yung na-award namin, irerespeto ng Supreme Court... Take note, it is now a national government policy na magkaroon ng mga bagong makina. Bakit? Eh in-approve po ng legislative ang budget para sa pag renta ng bagong makina. In-approve po ng Executive sa pamamagitan ng budget,” Garcia pointed out. 

(The Supreme Court has already ruled that they will respect our awarded contract.) 

In the 2022 elections, the government used refurbished VCMs that resulted in around 2,000 voting machines that conked out, leaving thousands of voters waiting for them to function again, Garcia said. 

“We cannot take that risk na magkakaproblema na naman ang mga makina. Dahil may option ka naman na mag-lease. Bakit ka gagamit ng luma na?” Garcia stressed. 

The Comelec is now offering the said VCMs to the Department of Education or the Professional Regulation Commission as a possible equipment to check examination papers given some tweaking of the said equipment.

• SC finds abuse of discretion in Comelec ban on Smartmatic 

“Baka pupwede, yung magagaling na IT people, ma-reprogram sya para sa pagtse-check ng mga papel ng mga bata,” he said.