Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Why only now?
That’s what poll technology provider Smartmatic is asking about the electoral sabotage complaint it faces before the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
“This is just a desperate measure by people who cannot accept that the system they were proposing for COMELEC has been outright rejected and it plainly failed when they had a chance to demonstrate it,” said Smartmatic Asia President Cesar Flores.
Smartmatic has bagged one of the two lease projects for new vote counting machines in the 2016 polls worth P2.5 billion. The other project, worth P7.8 billion, is still in the works but COMELEC said they’re on their way to reaching a deal.
One of the complainants, former Elections Commissioner Gus Lagman, said those contracts have to be stopped.
“Smartmatic tampered with the script in the middle of the elections. They have undermined the credibility and accuracy of the polls,” said Lagman.
Lagman and his group accessed Smartmatic of altering the source code of vote counting machines in the 2013 national elections.
They said Smartmatic personnel made changes to a file server at the command center of the Parish Pastoral Council for responsible voting hours after the polls closed.
Flores denied the accusation, saying the source code was never changed and that the server in question was not the crucial “transparency server” but a third part computer which could not have affected the poll canvassing.
He questioned the motives of one of the complainants, Leo Querubin.
Lagman said it took them two years to file the case because they did not trust the old COMELEC leadership.
Smartmatic also faces a number of cases with the Supreme Court, but these have not, so far, stopped the company from bidding for COMELEC projects.
The poll body said it is now on a tight schedule and could not afford any more delays if the goal is to automate the presidential elections nine months from now.
