IN what can be seen as a mild demurral, the head of the Commission on Elections pointed out on Wednesday it is an independent commission that the Legislative cannot control.

This was stated by Chairman Jose Melo after senators grilled Comelec officials and executives of  the technical provider for the 2010 automated election, Smartmatic.

The senators have asked the poll body to postpone the contract signing and allow them to review the contract. But Melo said “that is not possible because that is not their job. We are an independent constitutional commission.” He added, however, “we will accept suggestions but only from the senators and we are willing to give them a copy of the contract.”

The senators have said they are not too sure about Smartmatic and would want to look into the contract and the company to ensure that automation is a success, but Melo said the anxiety of the Senate appears to have come from questions raised by losing bidders AMA Group Holding Corp., Sequioa Voting Systems Inc., and Avante International.

Melo said all losing bidders should file a formal appeal to avail themselves of due process.

He added that because the bidding process has been very transparent, he expects there will be no more allegations they have been partial to the winner. 

From Malacañang on Wednesday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Palace is counting on Melo to remove any possible obstacles to the forthcoming national polls. “We are 11 months away from elections. We are confident that the Comelec will be able to handle the situation.”

On the Senate’s hearing on the poll automation deal,  Ermita said, “We are not in the position to say anything much other than having to follow up the deliberations in the Senate. But we wish the automated election will happen because…it could very well part of the election reform. That is very, very relevant.” 

He added the Senate has the right to probe alleged defects in the proposed poll automation system of the winning proponent. “It’s in our interest that these things be done in a proper manner, so we should not fault that. Let us just await the final outcome of the investigation.” 

The consortium Smartmatic Inc. Holding and its Filipino partner Total Information Management Corp (TIM) was declared on June 10 as the winning bidder, having passed the eligibility, technical, and financial requirements set by the poll body.

Another thing bothering the senators is the Comelec allowing Smartmatic to handle the delivery of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOs) machines and the choice of hubs, but Melo said that “is not under the responsibility of the Comelec. The responsibility to transmit and deploy the machines falls under the responsibility of Smartmatic and TIM.” 

The Comelec’s choice of 2Go carrier service to deliver the machines had also raised questions because the carrier service is a subsidiary of Aboitiz Corp., which is known to have close ties with the First Family.

But Melo dismissed all allegations of political motivations in their choice, again repeating that the process will be fair and open and, in any case, no contract has been signed with Aboitiz yet.

Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio said, meanwhile, it is as “most unfair and malicious” to suspect that poll automation is designed to fail to enable the administration to declare martial law.

“All of us are praying that the 2010 elections would be successful, efficient, honest, and credible. Instead of attacking the process for automated elections, I think we should all pray and help the Comelec ensure that the process succeeds,” he said.