Press Release
July 21, 2009

CHIZ TO SMARTMATIC: DO JOB FIRST, BILL LATER

Opposition Senator Chiz Escudero yesterday urged Smartmatic/TIM to proceed with the groundwork for the automation of next year's election instead of insisting on a downpayment from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for 40 percent of the awarded P7.2 billion computerization contract.

"We are losing more time. Smartmatic/TIM should be paying more attention as to how it intends to carry out its mandate of automating the elections as contained in the contract it signed with Comelec," he said.

"Problems are now piling up and it does not look good for the consortium to insist on payment first without doing anything," said Escudero, co-chair of the congressional oversight committee on poll automation.

As an example, he raised the concerns aired by Education Secretary Jesli Lapus that some 200,000 teachers who will oversee the balloting in the precincts are not ready for the planned automation.

"As I've been saying all along, it's going to be a nightmare rolling out poll automation in one year. Now the real work should begin and this is what Smartmatic/TIM should be paying attention to, not billing. There is so much work to be done at this juncture," he said.

Escudero said the reason the winning bidder in the automation of the polls is required to have a minimum capitalization is to make sure it is financially and logistically capable of doing the job it signed up for in advance of payment.

"I caution the Comelec from proceeding to release fund to Smartmatic/TIM. There should be a system of billing and releases that is progressive and based on performance and delivery," he said.

"Let us learn from the Mega-Pacific deal and make sure that we will not waste the people's money because of our desire to have automation for automation's sake," Escudero said.

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