MANILA, Philippines – One of the local partners of South Korea’s Miru, the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) main technology provider for the 2025 elections, withdrew from the joint venture, after the Comelec expressed concerns over the conflict of interest that would arise once alleged owners of the local firm pursue elective posts in 2025.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said on Thursday, October 3, that Miru and two other local companies in the joint venture accepted the withdrawal from the partnership of St. Timothy Construction Corporation.
“A few days ago, the Comelec received information that the owner of St. Timothy may run in the local and national elections, which is why the Comelec en banc conveyed to Miru and its partners that we will not allow that the integrity of our election will be questioned simply because one of our contracting partners or the owners will run for the 2025 national and local elections,” Garcia told reporters.
Garcia added that he gave St. Timothy two options: withdraw from the joint venture, or face the possibility of the supposed owners being barred by the Comelec from running for an elective post in 2025.
The poll body did not name the owners, but said they have yet to file their candidacies with the Comelec.
Garcia said St. Timothy’s role in the joint venture was the submission of the net financial contracting capacity, a document that ensures the bidder has the resources and finances to complete the project. The poll body is studying what obligations the other joint venture partners must comply with to make up for the withdrawal of St. Timothy.
Rappler emailed St. Timothy for a comment, but the company has yet to send a reply.
Whopping contract
The joint venture led by Miru secured next year’s most expensive poll contract worth P17.9 billion.
As an election provider, Miru will be tasked to deliver the following:
- 110,000 new automated counting machines
- 104,345 ballot boxes
- 2,200 consolidation and canvassing system (CCS) laptops and printers
- Ballot paper for 73.8 million voters
- Ballot printing and ballot verification services
Aside from St. Timothy, Miru’s other joint venture partners for the 2025 elections are Integrated Computer Systems, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies.
Miru is the lone bidder for the contract that seeks to reshape automated elections in the Philippines, as the Comelec barred Smartmatic, the longtime tech provider of the poll body, from taking part in the bidding of contracts for 2025.
Smartmatic’s disqualification stemmed from its alleged role in a 2016 election bribery scheme involving former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista. The former poll chief and three Smartmatic executives have been indicted in the United States over the scandal, as the money passed through the US financial system.
Still, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that the Comelec erred in disqualifying Smartmatic, although it did not nullify the contract issued to the Miru-led joint venture. – Rappler.com
