Erice: Miru’s partner withdrew as SC ruling on automated polls draws near

MANILA, Philippines — Former Caloocan lawmaker Edgar Erice believes the Supreme Court (SC) is set to decide on his petition against the automated election system (AES), which is why St. Timothy Construction Corporation (STCC) has withdrawn from the Miru Systems joint venture.

In an ambush interview on Friday, Erice was asked about STCC’s withdrawal from the joint venture tasked to implement the AES, which was supposedly brought by company stakeholders having relatives who will participate in the local elections.

Erice however said that the solution to this problem was asking the relatives of election aspirants — in this case, members of the Discaya family — to just divest their shares.  However, he believes the withdrawal was deliberately done to evade SC’s jurisdiction.

“Hindi naman pinagbabawal na may kamag-anak na kandidato ‘yong isang magjo-join sa bidding.  Wala naman, kaya nagtataka ako, bakit magwi-withdraw eh ang St. Timothy on a very flimsy reason.  Eh simple lang po ‘yan, mag-divest lang ‘yong Discaya, eh ‘di wala na sila sa St. Timothy, maliit lang naman ‘yong share nila,” Erice said, after he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) National Capital Region (NCR) office.

(They are not barring relatives of candidates to join the bidding.  There’s none, that’s why I am confused as to why St. Timothy is withdrawing for a very flimsy reason.  But it’s simple, they just need to divest the Discaya family members so that they would have no share in St. Timothy, their shares are small only.)

“Kasi po, malapit na, sa tingin ko po, malapit na mag-decision ang Korte Suprema.  Subalit kung ika-kansela nila ang kontrata, magiging moot and academic.  So moot and academic, hindi na made-desisyunan ng Korte Suprema whether, come like violated Section 7 and Section 12 of Republic Act No. 9369,” he added.

(This is because, I think, the Supreme Court is nearing its decision on my petition.  But if they cancel the contract, it would be moot and academic.  So moot and academic, the Supreme Court can no longer decide if they violated Section 7 and Section 12 of Republic Act No. 9369.)

Last April 18, Erice asked the SC to stop Comelec from implementing its P17.9 billion contract with Miru.

According to Erice, the contract violates Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election Law, because Miru will be trying a hybrid system that has supposedly never been done in another country before.

The petition was filed a day after the SC ruled that Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when it disqualified Smartmatic-TIM Corporation from participating in the bidding for the P17.9 billion AES contract.

READ: SC asked to stop Comelec – Miru deal for 2025 polls

Erice said that he believes that what the Comelec intends to do is to call for a re-bid, which he thinks would be difficult.

“So what would happen?  There would be a re-bid […] That’s why they got St. Timothy to participate because they need someone to join them because they do not have a net contracting capacity, that’s what St. Timothy provided the net contracting capacity.  Without the net contracting capacity of St. Timothy, Miru Systems won’t qualify,” he claimed.

“[Pwede ring] re-negotiate, pero very stringent ‘yon,” he added.

(It can also be re-negotiated, but the process is very stringent.)

Comelec on Thursday announced that STCC withdrew from the Miru Joint Venture amid reports that one of its owners may run in the 2025 polls.

“The Commission en banc immediately conveyed its sentiment to the joint venture that we will not allow the integrity of the elections to be questioned simply because one of the owners of our contracting partners would run in the 2025 elections,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia said in a press conference.

“Two choices only, one that the particular partner will have to withdraw, two we might be compelled to, in the interest of clean and honest election, disqualify certain candidates because we honestly believe that there is conflict of interest,” he added.

According to Garcia, the matter will be referred to the poll body’s law department for the next steps to take.

“We immediately referred it to the law department to evaluate what actions can be undertaken, and look into the obligations of the remaining partners after the withdrawal of STCC,” Garcia said.

“The said partner provided the NFCC (Net Financial Contracting Capacity). Therefore, what are the possible equivalent that the Comelec can ask from the remaining partners to submit in the event that we allow the withdrawal of STCC,” he added.

READ: Comelec: Local firm in Miru Joint Venture for 2025 polls withdraws