Smartmatic among bidders for voter verification project
By Gillian M. Cortez
THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) announced yesterday that SMMT-TIM 2016, Inc./Smartmatic International Holding BV (Smartmatic) is one of the interested bidders in the voter registration verification project for next year’s mid-term elections despite alleged alterations in the 2016 polls.
“They have not been blacklisted and there is no proceedings blacklisting them so they are still eligible to participate subject to the conditions as provided in the TOR (Terms of Reference),” Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee Chairperson J. Thaddeus P. Hernan said during a press conference on the opening of bids.
He added, «They’re not blacklisted by any government agency for that matter.»
Other companies that submitted bid documents were Megadata Corporation, NextIX Inc. and Gemalto Ph., and Dermalog ISMS.
The Special Bids and Awards Committee board is currently in the preliminary procurement proceedings.
The next step would be reviewing the bids before conducting a post-qualification proceedings.
After post-qualifications, the lowest calculated qualified bidder will be awarded the contract.
The project, Mr. Hernan said, requires “a single voter registration verification management system that shall effectively manage the data for all cities and municipalities.”
The poll body has already purchased more than 97,000 vote counting machines (VCM) from Smartmatic worth P8.1 billion for next year’s elections.
Smartmatic was investigated in the past for allegedly altering their script in the servers during the transmission of votes in 2016, but no sufficient evidence was found proving related fraud.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hernan said the automated system of verification that will be used in the 2019 national and local elections will be able to prevent “flying voters”.
“There will be no more discretion on the part of the electoral board as to the voters,” he said, because the finger scanning system will verify the identity.
Comelec plans to hold a mock election to test the system after awarding the contract.
Marquez downplays Davao mayor opposition to his SC application
By Vann Marlo M. Villegas
COURT ADMINISTRATOR Jose Midas P. Marquez, who is in the line-up of applicants for Supreme Court (SC) associate justice, has downplayed the opposition filed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio against him.
Ms. Carpio, daughter of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, claims that Mr. Marquez was trying to find favor by meddling in her disbarment case.
In his interview yesterday with the Judicial and Board Council (JBC) for the associate justice post, Mr. Marquez said he was not involved in the filing of the withdrawal of the disbarment case.
“The allegation that I talked to the complainants, the witnesses, I did something, I manipulated, I maneuvered, actually, your honor, with all due respect, is not accurate,” he said.
In a statement on social media, Ms. Carpio claimed that there is an individual seeking a position in the SC who is trying to get her attention by trying “to spin” her case.
“The Office of the President should think twice in appointing this individual to be a justice, more so a chief justice,” the mayor said.
It was revealed in the JBC interview that Ms. Carpio has filed her opposition against Mr. Marquez.
A disbarment case was filed against Ms. Carpio in 2011, during which she was also Davao City mayor, after she punched a trial court sheriff for ignoring her plea to postpone a demolition operation in an illegal settlement area at the height of a flooding calamity in the city.
Mr. Marquez claimed that the sheriffs who filed the case met in April 2018 and the president of the Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines proposed to withdraw the disbarment case against the Presidential daughter.
Mr. Marquez said he only met the sheriffs early in September 2018 to clarify what happened when he received the affidavit of Ms. Carpio.
He said the sheriffs only met him to seek his advice regarding the filing of withdrawal of the disbarment case, to which he replied that it would be up to them.
“Your honor I am not aware what information has reached the good mayor but it seems and as borne by her affidavit, it appears that I spoke to the sheriff and convinced them to file a motion to withdraw… In fact, when they filed that motion to withdraw before the office of the bar confidante, I was not informed, I was not aware, I was only told later on that it was already filed,” he said.
JBC member Milagros Fernan-Cayosa further noted that Ms. Carpio’s opposition also cited a certain Gemma Sotto, who was “purportedly” going to Davao to meet the mayor for the benefit of Mr. Marquez.
The court administrator also denied this allegation, saying: “Well, I do not know exactly what she was going to do, but yes, they were saying, including her, that I will help you here, I will help you there, I just say ‘thank you.’”
Mr. Marquez also denied the opposition filed by Ryzza Joy E. Laurea, which alleged that he misappropriated the $21.9 million loan fund provided by the World Bank for the Judicial reform Project in 2003, saying that “no single centavo” passed the Office of Court Administration.
“Ms. Laurea is misinformed that these projects were managed by the Office of the Court Administrator and these funds went through the office of the court administrator,” he said.
“I think Ms. Laurea came to that erroneous conclusion because there was a time when I wore multiple hats, I was court administrator, I was chief of staff of office of the chief justice, I was head of the Public Information Office, I was spokesman of the court. But even with those multiple positions, I was handling back then, these funds never passed my office,” he added.
Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro affirmed Mr. Marquez’s claims.
“I’d like to confirm that based on my personal knowledge. Court Administrator Marquez had nothing to do with the disbursement of the proceeds of the World Bank loan,” she said.
Apart from Mr. Marquez, other vying for the associate justice position are: Court of Appeals (CA) Justices Apolinario D. Bruselas, Jr., Rosmari D. Carandang, Stephen C. Cruz, Edgardo L. Delos Santos, Japar B. Dimaampao, Ramon Paul L. Hernando, and Mario V. Lopez.
Other candidates whose previous interviews are still valid are: Tagum City Judge Virginia D. Tehano-Ang, CA Justices Oscar V. Badelles, Manuel M. Barrios, Ramon D.R. Garcia, and Amy C. Lazaro-Javier.
The candidate who will be chosen will take the seat vacated by now Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires.
