Comelec ruling vs Smartmatic out soon
Garcia stated that his offer to open the ballot boxes used in the 2022 elections still stands to help clarify issues in relations to alleged irregularities.
Daily TribuneGarcia stated that his offer to open the ballot boxes used in the 2022 elections still stands to help clarify issues in relations to alleged irregularities.
The Commission on Elections announced on Friday that the decision on the petition to ban service provider Smartmatic in the bidding process for the 2025 elections may come out next week.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia said that the draft resolution is expected to be presented on Wednesday next week.
"It will be presented so the Comelec en banc could either approve or reject it," Garcia said. "We want to make a decision regarding the disqualification of Smartmatic before the opening of the offers."
Garcia disclosed that the bidding for the P18.827-billion lease contract for a new automated election system in the 2025 midterm elections was officially opened earlier this week by the poll body.
He also stressed that his offer to open the ballot boxes used in the 2022 elections still stands to help clarify issues in relations to alleged irregularities.
"We would like to find out the truth, so that we don't have any doubts. The ballot has already been opened before… with a random manual audit, we will probably not open it again like that at the expense of the commission, no problem, just to get it over, and again, my offer is still the same," Garcia said.
