MANILA — Smartmatic on Thursday criticized the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for disqualifying them for procurement in future elections, saying this was "unfair."

In a statement, Smartmatic said the grounds used to disqualify them “were not even part of the complaint” of the group of former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr. that the en banc tackled.

• Smartmatic disqualified from Comelec procurements: Garcia

Rio and his group alleged that there were irregularities in the 2022 elections such as discrepancies between reception logs and transmission logs, and the receipt and tally of the transparency server of more votes than what the vote counting machines were transmitting.

Because of these, Rio and his group filed a petition to possibly disqualify Smartmatic from the conduct of the 2025 Automated Election System.

But Comelec, in its resolution, ruled that the allegations of Rio et al. have no basis.

Instead, it argued that the alleged involvement of Smartmatic in the case of the United States government against former Comelec Chair Juan Andres Bautista had merit to perpetually disqualify the company.

Bautista supposedly received bribes in “exchange for awarding a contract for election machines to Smartmatic Corp.” in the 2016 elections.
Smartmatic noted, however, that they were not given a chance to defend themselves and that they have not been formally charged in any court.

• Smartmatic hopes for favorable decision amid disqualification petition

“We are very confident that had Comelec informed us of the matter, allowed us to explain our side and present countervailing evidence, the unfair disqualification would not have been meted out,” the statement read.

“We would like to clarify that we are not facing any such formal charge in the United States. Thus, we can categorically state that the basis of our disqualification is not only false, but non-existent. A false accusation and, more so, a disqualification on the basis of a non-existent grounds is not only legally and morally wrong, but plain unfair,” Smarmatic said.

It noted that to disqualify them in the 2025 elections and future elections based on news reports and “unofficial, leaked documents…are utterly and facially unacceptable.”

But, If Smartmatic has been indicted, it said it should still be given a presumption of innocence.

Smartmatic said that accusations against its Comelec contracts in 2015-2016 are “absolutely false” and that should an investigation be done, these will be dismissed.

Pending an investigation, the technology provider asserted that punishing it will be premature and inconsistent with Philippine laws.

“We assure the public that as a company policy, we adhere to all procurement processes during biddings and contract execution,” Smartmatic said.

The company called on Comelec to give the public an explanation.

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