FIRST SAY: Christopher Hitchens, my No. 1 favorite among my short list of favorite writers, said, “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
Hitchens of course was referring here to god. But the quote can very well be applied to other issues and concerns. It is an all-encompassing rule of logic, if you ask me.
Early last December, 2023, many Filipinos were happy that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finally found the balls to throw Smartmatic in the dustbin.
In so many words, the Comelec en banc told Smartmatic Philippines Inc. that we have had enough of you, give back to Filipinos the democratic elections that we used to own before computerization took them away from us.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia announced that henceforth, Smartmatic cannot participate anymore in any bidding for the poll body’s procurements. “We have disqualified Smartmatic,” he said in a terse message.
Smartmatic’s engagement in the Philippines was punctuated with accusations of fraud and inefficiency, not only from the camps of losing candidates but also from those who won.
The Comelec en banc banned Smartmatic because of the money-laundering and bribery charges against former Comelec chair Andres Bautista in the United States.
Bautista had been charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and bribery by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), alleging that he received bribe money from top executives of Smartmatic in exchange for assistance to win the Comelec contract.
Comelec said the charges also revealed that Bautista established a foreign shell company used to receive bribe payments from Smartmatic.
While both Andy Bautista and Smartmatic denied these allegations, it is only now that Comelec realized the gravity of these charges and recognized it as an “imminent threat” to the integrity of its democratic processes.
“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,” said the Comelec.
“Consequently, pursuant to administrative powers which cover all aspects of election, the Commission is compelled to take decisive action to disallow Smartmatic from participating in the procurement process forthwith,” it added. The poll body has also recommended the permanent disqualification and blacklisting of Smartmatic from all government procurement proceedings.
With Smartmatic gone, the elections in the Philippines may be seeing better days in terms of transparency, efficiency and honesty.
But don’t you dare celebrate this early.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the Comelec committed a grave abuse of discretion when it disqualified Smartmatic from participating in all election-related biddings of the Commission last November 2023.
The High Tribunal, however, said that the decision is not sufficient to nullify the Automated Election System (AES) contract signed between the Comelec and the joint venture led by South Korean firm, Miru Systems, for the 2025 polls. The said ruling allowed the Comelec and Miru to proceed with the start of the manufacturing the automated counting machines (ACMs) to be used in the May 2025 elections.
Because of this SC ruling, Smartmatic International called on the Comelec to hold another public bidding for the automated election system (AES) to be used in the May 2025 national and local polls.
In a statement, Smartmatic spokesman Christian Robert Lim said it is only fair to redo the public bidding process since the SC ruled that the Comelec erred and committed grave abuse of discretion when it disqualified the firm.
“The Supreme Court’s decision acknowledged how unfair the disqualification of Smartmatic was. In the interest of ensuring electoral integrity, Comelec should redo the procurement process,” said Lim.
“The credibility of elections and the legitimacy of leaders start with a transparent bidding process,” he added.
I fully understand former Comelec commissioner Christian Robert Lim on this issue; I can feel empathy on where he is coming from.
But I vigorously oppose the return of Smartmatic in PH elections. As Romulo Neri once said, “Please moderate your greed.”
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