Brillantes defends, Atienza assails contracts

“Of the hundreds of complaints by candidates who claim that they have been cheated by the PCOS machine, not one has been proven,” Chair Sixto Brillantes of the Commission on Elections told the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who has represented losing candidates, including former Manila mayor and now party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, another guest at the Kapihan, echoed Brillantes’ statement.

Brillantes also made someone very happy: Alroben Goh, principal petitioner for the recall of Mayor Lucilo Bayron of Puerto Princesa, Palawan (Goh was likewise a resource person at the forum), when he said that the recall election in the city will proceed posthaste now that the Comelec has rejected Bayron’s motion for reconsideration.

Voters of Puerto Princesa petitioned for the recall of their mayor for loss of confidence. They said that since Bayron became mayor, tourism and business in the city have declined and many workers have lost their jobs because of the economic slump. For example, Bayron cancelled all the tourism promotions that Edward Hagedorn had put in place as mayor.

Back to Brillantes: He defended the recent deal with Smartmatic, supplier of 82,000 PCOS machines used in the last two elections. The award of a contract to Smartmatic without any public bidding has come under heavy criticism. The Comelec chair said it was only the first of three contracts. The first contract is only to diagnose what is ailing the PCOS machines.

“Who can best do that but those who designed and manufactured the machines, which is Smartmatic?” Brillantes said, adding:

“Once the defects have been diagnosed, two other contracts will be awarded to repair the defective machines. It is not true that the P1.2-billion contract has been given to Smartmatic. The diagnostic contract is only P300 million. The two other contracts to be awarded will cost a total of P900 million.”

Brillantes also reiterated the challenge to former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman to prove his allegation that the PCOS machine can be rigged to favor some candidates. He ridiculed Lagman’s condition that a Smartmatic programmer be present to whom he, Lagman, would give instructions.

“Ano ba yan (What’s that)?” Brillantes scoffed. “He accuses Smartmatic of rigging the PCOS machines, then he wants a Smartmatic programmer to prove his accusation. Why does he not bring his own programmer? He was with the Comelec for 10 months. Why did he not speak out then? Why is he speaking out only now?”

For his part, Macalintal said Lagman should give present his evidence of cheating, if any, to Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who has a pending case against Vice President Jejomar Binay for his loss in the 2010 elections.

Macalintal also batted for the appointment to the Comelec of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, an election lawyer, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, and Judge Divina Simbulan of the regional trial court in San Fernando, Pampanga, who, he said, knows election laws very well. Brillantes and two other commissioners are soon retiring.

Congressman Atienza, on the other hand, focused on the two water concessionaires for Metro Manila—Maynilad and Manila Water—for their continuing noncompliance with the terms and conditions of their contracts with the government.

“Until now, these two water concessionaires have not fully complied with the terms of their contracts. What’s worse, up to now, the consumers are the ones bearing the burden of the special privileges granted to them in the contracts,” Atienza said.

When he was environment secretary, Atienza sued Maynilad and Manila Water for failing to comply with the terms of their contracts, such as providing wastewater treatment facilities, which they have yet to fully accomplish but for which they have been charging consumers since the very start.

As a result, the concessionaires were fined P200,000 per day for noncompliance. Records show that from May 7, 2009, until January 2015, the running total has reached P414.6 million in fines.

“Due to the absence of wastewater treatment facilities, household waste and sewage from Metro Manila and surrounding provinces are continuously being discharged into the Pasig River and subsequently to Manila Bay, virtually killing the bay and making it one giant septic tank.” Atienza said.

“Technically, all household wastewater should be cleaned as part of the service to be provided by Maynilad and Manila Water. Instead of doing so, they are even charging consumers for a service that is not being rendered to them,” he said. “In progressive cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, household wastewater is treated and comes out clean and is even safe to drink.”

It was also as environment secretary that Atienza caused the issuance of a continuing mandamus by the Supreme Court ordering the national government, all local government units, the private sector, and the two water concessionaires to clean up Manila Bay and restore it to its original pristine condition.