No funds for new vote counting machines in 2021 budget

Smartmatic would likely remain as the country's service provider in the 2022 elections if old vote counting machines would just be refurbished, Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms chairperson Imee Marcos said Thursday.

During the Senate plenary debates on the proposed P14.84 billion budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Marcos asked if there are funds to procure entirely new non-Smartmatic equipment for the next polls.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, sponsor of the budget, answered in the negative but stressed that the Comelec would open a bidding for a new software.

"Not yet. There will still be bidding for refurbishment," she said.

"Yung equipment 'yun 'yung binili ng Comelec sa Smartmatic pero the system that will run it may be different dahil magkakaroon po ng completely new bidding process leading up to the 2022 elections," she added.

Marcos said that it doesn't amount to much change and doubted that a new software other than Smartmatic would likely be used.

"Malamang eh Smartmatic pa rin ang marunong mag-operate ng hardware... Sana nga tama kayo at mali ako. Tingin ko mukhang suntok sa buwan 'yan pero subukan po natin," she said.

In October, Comelec said it would resort to refurbishing old VCMs due to a budget cut it received under the national expenditure program for 2021.

President Rodrigo Duterte previously urged the Comelec to get rid of Smartmatic and tap a new contractor that is "free of fraud" after some glitches marred the voting process and electronic transmission of results in the May 2019 midterm elections.

Venezuela-based Smartmatic has been the poll technology provider since the Philippines first implemented a nationwide automation of the elections in 2010.—LDF, GMA News