Smartmatic: Row with contractor won’t affect 2013
polls
The Philippine Star
MANILA, Philippines - Smartmatic
International Corp. yesterday assured Filipino voters that its dispute with
sub-contractor Dominion Voting Systems International Corp. would not affect the
country’s midterm elections in 2013.
“Our guarantee to the Philippines is
that our lawsuit against one of our sub-contractors has no impact on the
development of the elections. We are on track and I want to reassure the public
that this won’t have any impact on the elections,” said Smartmatic president
for Asia Pacific Cesar Flores.
Smartmatic and Dominion have a
worldwide licensing agreement to use the latter’s software, hardware, firmware
and technical support to run Smartmatic’s precinct count optical scan (PCOS)
machines, including those purchased by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)
for the midterm polls next year.
But in September, Smartmatic sued
Dominion before the Delaware Chancery Court in Florida, accusing the latter of
terminating the contract.
According to Flores, Smartmatic
could still use Dominion’s technology while the case is still pending and they
are very confident of winning the case in the end.
“The contract is between Smartmatic
and Comelec. And it’s Smartmatic who guarantees the Comelec access to the
technology, to the upgrades and to the source code which will be available for
the political parties to review,” he said.
He added
Smartmatic is “fully capable of providing the Comelec with the enhancements and
technology” that they need and they will “not be interrupted” in 2013.
“In fact,
there are currently about 40 enhancements delivered (by us) and are being
certified as we speak in the United States by the certification agency,” Flores
said.
He said the
enhancements the Comelec wanted introduced in the PCOS machines are “just
cosmetic changes in the operations.”
Flores,
however, refused to identify them in deference to Comelec.
“Our
assurance is that Comelec will have a fully working technology with the
enhancements that they have required. And that the source code will be
available for review, all the legal reviews that are included in Republic Act
9369 (the poll automation law),” he added.
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