By Melody F. Alan
Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia (Photo courtesy of PNA)
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday refuted allegation of critics who claim irregularity on the poll automation contract it has entered into with South Korean service provider Miru Systems for the May 2025 midterm elections as it maintained the legality of the deal it has entered into.
The P18.8 billion Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project has been highly criticized by former Caloocan representative Edgar Erice
“The Comelec is not onion-skinned. We will not file a motion to cite him in contempt. We believe this is a free country. Anybody can say their piece. We believe that we have a legal contract with Miru and it will have to be resolved by the Supreme Court (SC),” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in an interview.
The poll body chief said any statement about the issue should be discussed before the high court.
“Whatever it is that he wants to say, it would be better to say it before the Supreme Court where his case is pending. It was him who filed a case before the SC. The first person who should respect the exercise of jurisdiction of the SC should be the petitioner of the case," Garcia said.
The poll body chief has earlier declined Erice's invitation to join a press briefing on the matter.
Also on Wednesday, Erice warned that the use of Miru machines for the 2025 elections will lead to chaos and confusion among voters.
“There will be no other outcome but chaos because Comelec deliberately violated the Automated Election Law and the Procurement Law, gravely abused its discretion in many instances, and violated its own Terms of Reference, just to ensure the PHP18 billion Comelec-Miru contract pushes through,” he said in a press briefing.
Erice also detailed multiple reasons to prove that the Comelec engaged in an "anomalous contract" with the South Korean firm, starting with proposing a machine that has never been used in any elections worldwide.
“It would cost almost PHP18 billion to rent, not buy, these voting machines. This is stupidity of the highest order,” he said, adding that the government's expenses for each of the past elections in the country did not even reach P6 billion.
Comments