Of earthquakes and political tremors At 3 in the morning of Sunday Zambales was hit by a magnitude-6 earthquake that also woke up people in Metro Manila. While sipping coffee that morning I was again reminded of the much anticipated but still much denied catastrophe once the so-called Marikina fault makes a mega move. The ridges of Marikina Valley and its 15-kilometer radius of danger zone are now full of high-rise buildings and sprawling subdivisions. A magnitude 7-plus earthquake along this fault line could also compromise Angat Dam that was reported two years ago to be needing rehabilitation and repair to prevent a major disaster in Bulacan and bordering areas. Remember the earthquake drills conducted by the provincial government of Bulacan after studies showed the damage in terms of lives and property could be unprecedented? The superstitious among us did not take long to declare another warning from heaven. They declared that the two deaths among the more than one million devotees who crammed the procession of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo were not enough sacrifice to atone for the collective sins our society has committed. They argued that despite the fulmination of the crusading Pope Francis against extravagance in the midst of the poor, high officials of both government and the Catholic Church seemed to have condoned a hundred-million-peso wedding in full media coverage just when the Papal visit was nearing. Pope Francis has kept emphasizing that preparation for his visit should concentrate on Jesus and not him. For not heeding the Pope’s call we deserve another jolt to wake us up from spiritual complacency. That brings us to another scenario of devastation in the offing. This time the damage will be on our capability to improve as a nation with reliable and credible system of electing public officials. People were dismayed that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) chose to award the refurbishment of the 82,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) Machines to Smartmatic-TIM and the manner by which the decision was arrived at was shrouded with secrecy in that the Comelec tried to keep the vote from public knowledge from the time it was promulgated. The Comelec has found a way to forego the bidding and also paved the way for Smartmatic to get the full refurbishment contract. While Comelec Commissioner Sixto Brillantes was quick to point out that they actually just awarded Smartmatic-TIM P300-million instead of the original P1.2-billion, he failed (or intentionally forgot) to explain the ramifications of this action. Chairman Brillantes himself said that they based the amount they awarded on Smartmatic’s own prescribed three-stage contract which consists of: 1) Diagnostics, worth P300 Million which they already awarded, 2) Actual Repair, worth P900 Million, which they said could be bidded out, and, 3) Upgrading, worth P800 Million, which was not part of the original P1.2 Billion earmarked for the whole process. Not only did they managed to go find a loophole with Executive Order 424 which allows negotiated contracts for projects not exceeding P500 Million by breaking down the full contract into smaller portions, but they also paved the way for Smartmatic-TIM to have the advantage in securing the next two stages. The Comelec has continued to favor Smartmatic by disregarding numerous issues brought against it. 1) Smartmatic-TIM has no legal standing to participate in the bidding because its primary purpose stated in its Articles of Information limit it to providing automated election services only for the 2010 National Elections. 2)The Comelec 14-man Technical Working Group (TWG) voted 9-5 against Smartmatic for having no Tax Clearance Certificate in its submission of eligibility documents. 3)The TWG was split 7-7 in voting for the eligibility of Smartmatic based on its infirm Articles of Information. 4) The Comelec Legal Department itself released a recommendation on November 4 encouraging the bidding out of the refurbishment contract, citing that: a) Smartmatic is not the only entity capable of conducting such activity, b) the goods and services offered are bereft of proprietary rights duly registered with the appropriate Intellectual Property Office, c) the goods or services are not critical component of the PCOS and are not highly exceptional, and d) they are not offered or sold with exclusivity by Smartmatic. The fact that Comelec is obviously favoring Smartmatic despite all the above issues could only lead to suspicions not only of corruption but cheating as well, something that could trigger political tremors of worse magnitude than any of the earthquakes hitting us now.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 02:18:44 +0000