• CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
Bacolod congressional candidate Evelio “Bing” Leonardia sent last Friday to Comelec chairman, George Erwin Garcia, an urgent request for the manual counting and manual tallying at the precinct level of votes for local candidates in Bacolod City, before the electronic transmission of election results is made to the City Board of Canvassers in the forthcoming May 12 elections.
The move was in reaction to the recent award made by incumbent Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez of a P2.1 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract to Highdata Infra Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of SMS Global Technologies Inc.
SMS Global is a service provider of the Commission on Elections for the 2025 overseas online voting, which has been questioned by several OFWs in social media posts for allegedly not correctly reflecting the names of the candidates they voted for.
“This is a clear and significant conflict of interest that compromises the sanctity of the ballot because of the partnership forged by the concerned parties,” which was how Leonardia described the PPP deal.
Highdata Infra Corp., wholly owned by SMS Global Technologies Inc., reportedly has a paid-up capital of less than P2 million, but was awarded a multi-billion midnight deal last January 24 by Benitez, while the resulting PPP contract was ratified on March 5 by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod, just 23 days before the election ban started on March 28 for such government transactions in LGUs.
Benitez and the incumbent councilors, who approved the PPP contract, are currently running under one slate in the coming local and national elections.
Lawyer Jose Jireh Alimon, of the Vaflor Alimon & Cabigon Law Offices, counsel for Leonardia, added “this is a highly questionable transaction because the City of Bacolod will use the Electronic Counting Machines during election day, which Highdata Infra Corp. / SMS Global Technologies, Inc. can easily access because of their technical expertise and know-how about the COMELEC’s automated voting system.”
They say that the request for manual counting and manual tallying of votes for local candidates at the precinct level is merely an additional safeguard that will protect the “integrity” of the election results in Bacolod City.
After the manual count and manual tally at the precinct level for local candidates, the results can then be electronically transmitted to the City Board of Canvassers, after everyone concerned has received their copy of the tally sheets.
Lawyer Revo Sorbito, Election Officer of Comelec -Bacolod, has been informed of the urgent request sent to the Comelec chairman.
Leonardia also called on all the citizens of Bacolod to be watchful of attempts to manipulate the electronic counting and transmission of votes, in order to safeguard the sanctity of the ballots in the forthcoming national and local elections in Bacolod City on May 12. “I publicly challenge Benitez to support this appeal to the Comelec to implement manual counting in Bacolod. This way, everything will be transparent and no longer be susceptible to doubt and suspicion,” he said.*
