Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 26) — Poll technology provider Smartmatic hit back at its critics and asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) anew to dismiss the petition for its disqualification from the bidding for the new automated election system.
“The petitioners’ clear objective is both political, attempting to delegitimize the government, and commercial, supporting Smartmatic competitors,” Smartmatic said in a statement on Saturday.
“These claims are unfounded, presented as facts but lacking any evidence. The petitioners have not demonstrated a single vote discrepancy,” it added.
In June, former Information and Communications Technology Secretary Eliseo Rio, former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman, Franklin Ysaac, and Leonardo Odoño filed a petition calling for a review of the qualifications of Smartmatic.
The petition cited alleged irregularities between the transmission logs and reception logs from the precinct level to Comelec’s transparency server during the 2022 elections.
The seven-man Comelec en banc has yet to rule on the petition.
Despite the pending case, Smartmatic took part in the pre-bid conference for the new automated election system for the 2025 midterm elections.
During the Senate deliberations on Comelec’s proposed 2024 budget, Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel said the owner of Smartmatic Philippines’ mother company visited the country and met with “a camp of a candidate, an interested party.”
The United Kingdom-based firm said that it is “hopeful” of Comelec’s dismissal of its disqualification case as proof of “Smartmatic’s adherence to the contract’s provisions.”
Smartmatic has been the Philippine’s poll technology provider since 2010.
Comelec announced that at least five companies are expected to submit their bids for the P18-billion contract for the new automated election system.
