A member of the advisory council of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has urged the poll body to continue with the planned automation of the 2010 national and local elections despite the fact that winning bidder Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. already terminated its partnership last Monday with its foreign partner Smartmatic.

In a press briefing, Ramon C. Casiple, executive director for the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER), said that everything is not lost although TIM already abandoned its joint venture with Smartmatic
that will pave the way for the computerization of next year’s polls.

Casiple, who also is a member of the advisory council for the P11.3 billion poll automation, said that based on their recommendation, one way of solving the problem is for the poll body headed by Comelec Chairman Jose T. Melo, to take over the duties and responsibilities of TIM.

He said that based on the assessment of the advisory council after it held a meeting earlier this week, there is no legal impediment barring the Comelec from taking over TIM’s role in the elections.

“For us, we don’t see any problem with this set-up. The Comelec has plenary powers to do this. Viable ito for us. Pero they (Comelec) have to be ready to defend this before the Supreme Court if ever some groups
will question this move,” Casiple told reporters during the Fernandina Forum at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

“We in the advisory council are for poll automation. We are hopeful that this will push through despite TIM terminating its partnership with Smartmatic,” he added.

Casiple, at the same time, said that Comelec has the right to file a case against TIM for breach of contract as it already entered into a joint venture agreement with Smartmatic.

“Kahit hindi pa formally nagpirmahan, pwede pa rin sila (TIM) makasuhan,” he said.

Casiple also said that if ever the Comelec decides not to push through with the poll automation of the elections, they can always revert to manual elections.

“Kayang-kaya pa nila (COMELEC) mag manual elections. Nung 2004 nga, despite the fact na they only have four months to prepare for manual elections after the Supreme Court declared that the automation contract for the winning bidder Mega Pacific was void, nakayanan nila eh. So I don’t see any problem with it,” Casiple said.

The Supreme Court, in January 2004, declared the automation contract void. The Supreme Court established that the contract was awarded to Mega Pacific Consortium, an entity that did not participate in the bidding; the actual contract was signed by Mega Pacific eSolutions, Inc., a company that joined the bidding but had not met the eligibility requirements; and the computer hardware and software failed to pass performance standards at the time of the award.

Casiple, who also acts as a political analyst, said that the pullout of TIM Corp. from the poll automation contract can be viewed as sabotage. He said that many of them in the advisory council feel that TIM’s withdrawal is also a way to derail the 2010 elections.

“It is simply be considered as sabotage whether it is (withdrawal) deliberate or not because of their squabble with Smartmatic,” he said.

The procurement law, it was recalled, requires foreign companies like Smartmatic to have a Filipino partner dayin order to conduct business in the Philippines, but the Comelec hinted that there are ways to work around this provision.

"There is another view that for unprecedented and novel projects like this, the 60-40 provision might not be applicable. But we will have to look into that more deeply," Special Bids and Awards Committee head Ferdinand Rafanan said in an earlier interview.

In a related development, Casiple said they will launch late this month “Bantay Election 2010” to help in the campaign for an honest, orderly and peaceful elections.

Casiple said the project, which will be possibly funded by the United Nations, will be jointly spearheaded by his group and the National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA) under Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

He said students undergoing the National Service Training Program (NSTP) will be tapped in the project. He said their main objective is to safeguard the elections.

“Sa pagprint ng balota, hanggang sa mismong eleksyon at bilangan ng boto, magbabantay kami. We will make sure that elections will be free from cheating,” he said.