FINALLY, we have a Commission on Elections (Comelec) that took the bull by the horn and told Smartmatic Philippines Inc. that we have had enough, give back to Filipinos the democratic elections that we used to own before computerization took them away from us.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia announced on Wednesday that henceforth, Smartmatic can no longer participate in any bidding for the poll body’s procurements. “We have disqualified Smartmatic,” he said in a terse message.
Smartmatic’s engagement in the Philippines was punctuated with accusations of fraud and inefficiency, not only from the camps of losing candidates but also from those who won. The Comelec started to use the automated voting system of Smartmatic in the 2008 election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and from then, this tech firm from Caracas has been a key feature in Philippine elections although its operations are supervised by the Comelec.
Smartmatic handled the 2010 general elections in which Benigno Aquino III succeeded Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Although a Social Weather Stations survey showed that 75 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with the conduct of this election, allegations of cheating were also raised.
‘… the elections in the Philippines may be seeing better days in terms of transparency, efficiency and honesty.’
In 2013 during the midterm elections, the same 82,000 voting machines used three years before were again put to service. The poll watchdog National Citizens Movement for Free Elections described the polls as “generally peaceful and organized.”
In the 2016 presidential elections, Smartmatic had over 92,000 vote counting and 5,500 backup machines. Complaints against Smartmatic results prodded the Supreme Court to rule that each voting machine should print a receipt, which barely assuaged the grievances of the perennial complainers. Even if Rodrigo Roa Duterte won convincingly, he and losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. complained of being cheated by Smartmatic and Comelec. Duterte said his winning margin should have been bigger, and Marcos engaged the camp of Vice President Leni Robredo in a long-running election protest.
In the 2019 Senate election, Smartmatic was minimally involved because Comelec purchased its voting machines following the 2016 elections. With the Comelec in charge of both operation and supervision, the May 2022 election was held with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte winning overwhelmingly.
Finally, Smartmatic had to go, understandably unlamented. But for the wrong reasons, we beg to point out.
Chairman Garcia said the Comelec’s decision to ban Smartmatic in the 2025 national elections and in future elections in the country is not because of the unresolved petition was filed by former Information Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., former Comelec commissioner Augusto Lagman, Franklin Ysaac, and Col. Leonardo Odoño.
The petitioners cited Smartmatic’s reported failure to comply with specific “minimum system capabilities” that resulted in alleged “serious and grave irregularities,” pointing to supposed discrepancies between transmitting and receiving election returns from the precinct level to Comelec’s Transparency Server during the 2022 national and local elections.
The Comelec en banc banned Smartmatic because of the money-laundering and bribery charges against former Comelec chair Andres Bautista. Bautista had been charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and bribery by the US Department of Homeland Security which alleged that he received bribe money from Smartmatic’s top executives in exchange for assistance to win the Comelec contract. Comelec said the charges also revealed that Bautista established a foreign shell company that received bribe payments from Smartmatic.
While both Bautista and Smartmatic denied these allegations, it is only now that Comelec realized the gravity of the charges, and recognized these as an “imminent threat” to the integrity of its democratic processes.
“These allegations not only undermine and cast a shadow over the procurement protocols but also threaten to erode the public’s confidence in the electoral system,” said the Comelec, adding that it is “compelled to take decisive action to disallow Smartmatic from participating in the procurement process forthwith.” The poll body has also recommended the permanent disqualification and blacklisting of Smartmatic from all government procurement proceedings.
With Smartmatic gone, the elections in the Philippines may be seeing better days in terms of transparency, efficiency and honesty.
