Pia warns: "With poll automation dead, the 'Garcis' will be resurrected"

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today warned that the "dreaded Garcis" of manual election fraud will soon be back in business following the sudden pullout of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) as partner of Smartmatic Int'l in the P7.2-billion project to automate the 2010 elections.

"With the Smartmatic contract practically terminated, manual elections is now inevitable. All our efforts to modernize elections have been pushed back for the second time."

"It's like we never learned from the P1.3-billion poll counting machine scam that happened under the Abalos era," she lamented, referring to the P1.3-billion contract with Mega Pacific Consortium under the Comelec then headed by Benjamin Abalos. The Supreme Court in January 2004 declared the contract as void for violating the poll body's own legal and technical bidding procedures.

"We should not lose hope. We should remain vigilant and guard against the resurrection of traditional poll cheats since this new development is tailor-made for the 'Hello Garci' template and its operators," she added, in reference to the controversial dagdag-bawas scheme in the 2004 elections that had been linked to former Comelec official Virgilio Garcellano and Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself.

Cayetano said she was simply exasperated to see how the Comelec ended up with an empty bag, even after it was given more than enough time to screen all bidders and ensure the integrity of the bidding process for poll automation.

"Comelec should not allow TIM to abdicate its obligations and walk away that easily. It should file criminal, civil, and administrative cases against TIM officials for all the trouble they have caused."

"But Comelec itself has some explaining to do. It could have been more discerning in order to prevent the possibility of a consortium partner pulling out, after the bidding has been won," said the lady senator, a member of the Senate minority.

"For such a major undertaking, the practice of due diligence, such as full scrutiny of the financial viability of all bidders, cannot be compromised even if you're pressed for time to produce results."