THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has given assurance that it will follow the Supreme Court (SC) order on Smartmatic.
Comelec chairman George Garcia gave the assurance when asked to to comment on Smartmatic’s petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the ruling disqualifying petitioner from the poll body’s bidding processes.
The camp of former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. also needs to comment on the issue.
The Comelec earlier disqualified Smartmatic from future Comelec bidding processes.
Smartmatic assailed however the poll body’s decision as “unfair” and proceeded to file its petition for a TRO.
“Although we have yet to receive our official copy of the Order (per information of the Office of the Clerk of the Commission), the Commission on Elections shall remain consistent to its commitment to comply with the directives of Supreme Court, and at this instance, with the assistance of the Office of the Solicitor General,” Garcia said in a statement.
“Most importantly, the High Court found no compelling reasons to issue an injunctive writ to stall the implementation of our questioned resolution,” he added.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will comply with the directives of the Supreme Court after the High Court asked the poll body to respond to Smartmatic Philippines Inc.’s plea against disqualification from future Automated Election System bids for the 2025 National and Local Elections.
“Although we have yet to receive our official copy of the order, the Commission on Elections shall remain consistent to its commitment to comply with the directives of the Supreme Court, and at this instance, with the assistance of the Office of the Solicitor General,” poll spokesman John Rex Laudiangco said.
“Most importantly, the High Court found no compelling reasons to issue an injunctive writ to stall the implementation of our questioned resolution,” Garcia said.
The Comelec en banc on November 29 disqualified and disallowed Smartmatic from participating in the bidding process for the country’s future automated elections to maintain the integrity” of the country’s electoral process.
Since 2010, Smartmatic has served as the Philippines’ technology provider when the country shifted from manual counting to automated elections.