Comelec exec, Smartmatic deny P2 million bribery

The chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Special Bid and Awards Committee (SBAC) on Friday categorically denied that he received a P2-million bribe from Smartmatic, the sole qualifier in the race to bag the P11.3 billion poll automation contract. SBAC chief Ferdinand Rafanan cried foul and called his critics "liars" for accusing him of receiving a bribe, according to a report on Friday by Tina Panganiban-Perez of GMA News. "I deny that categorically. I never received anything. I'm ready to face them anywhere, anytime. They are liars. They should come out," Rafanan said. Cesar Flores, the sales director of Smartmatic, also denied the accusations, saying some people were just sore losers. "Unfortunately there are some people who don't like to lose. This [bidding] has been very transparent. As you've known all the tests have been made in front of the media and observers, and we deny any type of acusation of wrongdoing," Flores said. On Thursday, glitches marred Smarmatic's first day of demonstration. This prompted critics to spread text messages insinuating that Rafanan could have received money, and Makati Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin kept a close eye on Smartmatic's second day of demonstration. Both Rafanan and Smarmatic officials explained to Locsin that faulty wirings caused their machines to bog down. They said the reason behind the glitch was a mismatch of in the wires used to connect the machine to the battery. Smarmatic was quick to assure that in case the same problem should arise during the elections it would not affect the voting procedures because their machines have an automatic shut-off mechanism and an automatic recovery system. "I can't think of anything better. However, I suppose if I am a master of manual cheating, I would be very unhappy because I won't be able to do my business anymore," said Locsin, who is also member of the House Oversight Committe on Automated Election Systems. He also derided critics who were still questioning the reliability of the automation machines. He added that only a natural disaster could hamper next year's elections. "We keep hearing this talk about garbage in, garbage out. I challenge any of them – and I give them 50 years to do it – to hack into an ATM machine. None of these idiots in Congress who talk about garbage in, garbage out can even hack into their own computers. Try to feed your garbage into your ATM account. Do it three times and it will eat your card. So ang yabang lang nito eh they think they even knew how to count," Locsin said. - Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV