ONE of the four companies in the joint venture that will provide the automated election system (AES) for the May 2025 polls has withdrawn from the project over a possible conflict of interest.
In a press conference late Thursday, Elections chairman George Garcia announced that St. Timothy Construction Corporation (STCC) has withdrawn from its joint venture with Miru Systems (Miru), Integrated Computer Systems, Inc. (ICS), and Center Point Solutions and Technologies, Inc. (CPSTI).
“We received a letter from the joint venture of Miru Systems that one of their partners in a joint venture has withdrawn. It means that STCC has withdrawn from the joint venture, and has been accepted by the other partners,” said Garcia.
This was confirmed by Miru Systems in a statement.
“We announce the withdrawal of St. Timothy Construction Corporation (STCC) as one of the members of our local joint venture partner due to a possible conflict of interest. We will move forward with our two local joint venture partners,” said Miru.
Garcia said the STCC withdrew from the joint venture as some of its officials are planning to run in the forthcoming elections.
“The Commission en banc immediately conveyed its sentiment to the Joint Venture that we will not allow the integrity of the elections to be questioned simply because one of the owners of our contracting partners would run in the 2025 elections,” Garcia said.
The poll chief said they gave the joint venture the option either for STCC to withdraw from the project or to have their officials, who will seek elective posts, to be disqualified.
“This is because we honestly believe that there is conflict of interest,” stressed Garcia.
The STCC officials are supposedly planning to run for a local post in Pasig City and as a party-list nominee.
With STCC’s withdrawal, Garcia said they have asked the remaining members of the joint venture to submit a replacement for the Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC), which the former provided in the partnership.
The NFCC is defined as a credit line and a certificate of a hold-out on cash deposit that establishes the bidder’s liquidity, its capacity to absorb the additional obligations in connection with the contract to be bid, and to finance its implementation/completion.
“The said partner provided the NFCC. Therefore, what are the possible equivalent that the Comelec can ask from the remaining partners to submit in the event that we allow the withdrawal of STCC?” said Garcia.
Miru said STCC merely played a role in meeting regulatory compliance requirements.
“They (STCC) did not contribute to the development of our voting machines or services to be used in the 2025 National and Local Elections,” it said, adding that it remains steadfast in its preparations and has already delivered substantial milestones provided under its contract with the poll body.
These, it said, include the 50,000 Automated Counting Machines already received in the country, and the complete delivery of election peripherals, brand new state-of-the-art printing machines, setting up of 110 repair hubs nationwide, and presence of servers for all data centers.
“We reiterate that this will not affect our commitment to delivering a better automated system in the service of Filipinos,” said Miru.
Garcia said the Comelec is not worried by the potential effect of STCC’s withdrawal on the AES project, saying that “at this point, we are not concerned because their compliance are more than enough to show their dedication and capability to fulfill their commitments in the contract.”
