SC sets oral arguments for poll automation deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court on Tuesday set the oral arguments for the petition to stop the implementation of the poll automation contract signed between the government and the consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM). SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the court, in an en banc resolution, set the oral arguments on July 29 at 2 p.m. The petition was filed by Concerned Citizens’ Movement, which said the joint venture of the Commission on Elections and Smartmatic/TIM is contrary to the provisions in Republic Act 9369, or the poll automation law. Marquez said there is no need for the tribunal to issue an urgent temporary restraining order (TRO) but exhorted the parties, particularly the respondents, to “proceed with caution" in its dealings. CCM, led by UP Law Professor Harry Roque, filed the petition last week hoping that the high court would stop the scheduled signing of the P7.2-billion contract by the Comelec and Smartmatic/TIM last Friday. The signing pushed through as scheduled. “There is no need for a TRO. We will just wait after the oral arguments, and we’ll see if the Court finds the need to issue a stay order," Marquez said in a press briefing. “The fact that the Court has not issued a TRO... it can be said that it’s with the belief that there’s no urgency to do that," he added. The SC ordered Comelec, Smartmatic and TIM to file within 10 days their respective comments on the CCM petition. Marquez said that during the oral arguments, the respondents would be asked about the reliability of the automated election system. “They will not be there to argue but they will be asked to provide guidance on the technical aspects of the election process," he said. The poll automation project almost went belly up after TIM, a Filipino company, backed out from the consortium due to differences over the implementation of the project. Its dispute with its partner was however ironed out. - GMANews.TV