The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has said it will comply with the Supreme Court (SC) order to disclose the P18 billion contract for the conduct of the 2025 midterm elections.
The SC also required South Korean automated election system (AES) provider Miru Systems Co. Ltd. to comment on the petition.
"We will comply accordingly. On the part of Comelec, we provided them with everything that they requested, in line with our policy of complete transparency," Comelec Chairperson George Garcia told reporters in a Viber message on Tuesday evening.
"We have records to prove that and will certainly include these in our comment," Garcia added.
The High Court's directive was made public by SC Spokesperson lawyer Camille Sue Mae Ting during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Ting said both the Comelec and Miru Systems were given a non-extendible period of 10 days to submit their comments.
The SC acted on the petition filed by members of the Right to Know, Right Now Coalition (R2KRN), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the Philippine Press Institute, journalists, and academics.
The petitioners asked the SC to compel Comelec and Miru Systems to act on their request for information regarding the P18 billion contract due to the withdrawal of the latter’s local partner, St. Timothy Construction Corp. (STCC), from the joint venture agreement and its impact on the 60 percent Filipino ownership requirement.
The Comelec entered into an P18-billion contract last year with the joint venture composed of Miru, Integrated Computer Systems, Centerpoint Solutions Technologies Inc., and STCC for the 2025 automated election system.
In November 2024, the Comelec disclosed that STCC had decided to withdraw from the joint venture.