Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 11) — A voting technology provider disqualified from all elections procurement is seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from implementing its decision.
In a social media post, Truth and Transparency Trio (TNTrio) member Franklin Ysaac revealed on Monday Smartmatic Philippines filed a petition before the Supreme Court. “As expected, Smartmatic, through their lawyer ACCRA, filed a temporary restraining order (on the) disqualification order by Comelec before the SC,” he said in a post. Ysaac also shared a photo of the first page of the petition of the country’s longtime voting technology firm. The picture showed Smartmatic filed a “Petition for Certiorari with extremely urgent application for the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction against the Comelec decision.” CNN Philippines has yet to obtain a copy of Smartmatic’s petition, but the company confirmed that they filed a petition before the Supreme Court.
Last month, the Comelec en banc ruled to disqualify Smartmatic from participating in all public bidding projects related to the elections.
The en banc said the unresolved allegations against Smartmatic in relation to the 2016 elections may affect the integrity of the upcoming polls. The decision to disallow Smartmatic stemmed from the petition filed by Ysaac, former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr., former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman and retired Col. Leonardo Odoño.
Smartmatic earlier called the disqualification ‘unfair’ and called its basis “false” and “non-existent.”
“With due respect to the law and all parties involved, we cannot comment on pending legal cases,” said Smartmatic. Ysaac said their legal team is now preparing their response to the petition of Smartmatic. “Timing is important as SC (Supreme Court) has to deliberate on this filing prior to bidding anytime by BAC (Bids and Awards Committee) by Comelec,” Ysaac said. Comelec Chairman George Garcia issued a brief comment on the development.“This is expected. The Comelec is willing and ready to defend its position. At the end of the day, the SC has the final say on the matter,” he said in a message to reporters.The Comelec has yet to receive a copy of the petition.Smartmatic was among three companies that purchased bidding documents and expressed interest to bid for the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) project. The poll body’s spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said only companies that acquired bidding documents may submit their bids, but he clarified additional prospective bidders may participate in the coming days. Bidders may purchase bidding documents until the closing of the Submission of Bids at 9 a.m. of Dec. 14. The Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) moved the Opening of Bids for the 2025 Automated Election System for Dec. 14.
