Voting 11-3 in a special session, justices of the high court dismissed the consolidated petitions of various groups seeking to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from purchasing 82,000 machines used under a lease agreement in the 2010 polls from the Netherlands-based Smartmatic.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes called the ruling “a very good decision.”
In its decision, the high court also effectively lifted its April 24 temporary restraining order on the Comelec-Smartmatic deal. The SC will officially release its decision today.
“The Comelec is now free to implement the contract for the purchase of the PCOS machines,” SC spokesman Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra said at a press briefing.
Guerra explained that a majority of the justices believed that the deal was valid since it was forged when the earlier contract between Comelec and Smartmatic for the 2010 polls remained in effect.
“The main contract for the automated election system (AES) between Comelec and Smartmatic containing the option to purchase the PCOS machines was still existing when Smartmatic extended the period of the said option to purchase and when the poll body exercised the said option,” she said, quoting a portion of the SC ruling.
She also said the majority of the justices are convinced the contract is still valid because the Comelec has not yet returned in full the P360-million performance security bond collected from Smartmatic.
Source : Philstar.Com
