THE Commission on Elections maintained that it will assess the performance of its service provider, Smartmatic International, particularly over the 2,300 machines that malfunctioned in Monday’s polls.
Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia said they will study the possibility of holding the company accountable for the failuers of the machines that the poll body leased from Smartmatic for the election.
“Of course, we will look into them and we would have to relate it to the issue of liability or accountability as provided by the terms of reference. That is in the contract,” he said.
Guia added that they will include in the assessment field reports regarding the glitches suffered in different polling precincts.
“We don’t want any of these failures so we will really look into these reports,” the poll body official said.
On Monday, about 2.55 percent of the 92,509 VCMs had malfunctioned, with some 150 units replaced.
In the last elections, 4,760 out of 77,829 Precinct Optical Scan machines malfunctioned, with 171 had to be changed.
A total of 1,966 out of 76,347 PCOS machines had glitches and 205 were replaced, in the 2010.
Guia noted that among the possible penalties is the withholding of portions of the payment to Smartmatic, amounting to about P8 billion.
At the same time, the Department of Justice has formed a special task force of prosecutors that will handle election-related cases from the May 9 general elections.
In Department Order No. 328-B, Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas has assigned 10 prosecutors, led by Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Pedrito Rances, to handle cases with the Comelec.
The panel has been tasked to conduct inquest proceedings or preliminary investigation of election offenses filed with the Comelec or DOJ.
Also designated as members of the task force were Prosecutors Rosemarie Gonzales, Robert Ong, Michael John Humarang, Alejandro Daguiso, Florencio de la Cruz, Rodan Parrocha, Jeannette Dacpano and Charlie Guhit, and Assistant Prosecution Attorney Agnes Bagaforo-Arellano.
Caparas also ordered all regional and city prosecutors to assign two prosecutors in each city or province to assist local legal teams of Comelec.
All the election charges referred by the Comelec to DOJ main office shall be subject to the approval of the prosecutor general. On the other hand, charges to be filed against persons in the city/provincial prosecution offices shall be subject to the approval of the provincial/city prosecutors concerned, h the DOJ order stated.
The Supreme Court earlier directed trial courts to open on Monday to accommodate possible filing of poll-related cases or address matters requiring immediate judicial action.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez directed executive judges to report for duty and resolve cases with gutmost caution and dispatch.