NO CHEATING A 2016 file picture exhibits then Fee on Elections Chair Andres Bautista and Smartmatic official Elie Moreno assuring reporters there was no dishonest within the election that yr. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Election service supplier Smartmatic on Friday mentioned there was “nothing irregular” within the tax reimbursements it obtained from the Fee on Elections (Comelec) in 2016.
However the Comelec’s ordinary election-time workhorses—the nation’s public faculty academics—have had sufficient and demanded that Smartmatic be excluded henceforth from the nation’s election processes.
“Tama na. Sobra na. Smartmatic erase na (Sufficient already. An excessive amount of already. Erase Smartmatic already),” mentioned a streamer of the Division of Training Academics Union at a press briefing on Thursday.
The academics mentioned that their very own experiences and the bribery and cash laundering indictments returned by a US federal grand jury in Miami, Florida, final week “raised severe questions concerning the integrity of Smartmatic.”
The 2016 reimbursement of P195 million in value-added tax (VAT) was talked about within the grand jury indictment of Smartmatic officers and former Comelec Chair Andres Bautista, who was the ballot physique’s chair on the time.
‘Nothing irregular’
However Smartmatic’s workplace in Makati on Friday issued a press release saying “this reimbursement was accepted by the Comelec en banc primarily based on the Bureau of Inner Income (BIR) ruling.”
Smartmatic mentioned it “merely complied” with the provisions within the bidding paperwork issued by the Comelec for the contracts for the 2016 Nationwide and Native Elections (NLE), which said that the accepted funds was “inclusive of all taxes,” together with VAT.
“It must be famous that such a provision was not new for that election. Quite the opposite, it had been current in different bidding paperwork for earlier automated elections, together with the 2013 NLE. Accordingly, Smartmatic’s 2015 bids factored in all relevant taxes, together with VAT, and the costs within the signed contracts for the lease of 23,000 and 70,000 machines have been additionally inclusive of all taxes,” the corporate mentioned.
Upon the request of Comelec, the BIR dominated in April 2016 that the Comelec was solely entitled to withhold 5 p.c.
4 months later, in August 2016, the Comelec beneath Bautista reimbursed Smartmatic for the remaining 7 p.c of the 12 p.c VAT that had beforehand been withheld.
Not over but
However on Wednesday, incumbent Comelec Chair George Garcia questioned the VAT reimbursements, saying the ballot physique ought to have retained the VAT.
In a media discussion board in Manila, Garcia mentioned the Comelec’s regulation division in 2016 opposed the reimbursement and so did Bautista’s successor, the late Sixto Brillantes Jr., additionally questioned the reimbursements.
READ: DepEd union requires removing of Smartmatic from PH elections course of
Garcia mentioned the Comelec will use proof offered within the indictment to additional examine allegations of rigged bidding, worth jacking and tax fraud involving the three contracts value P3.8 billion that Smartmatic obtained from the Comelec.
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In the meantime, the academics’ union mentioned their experiences in earlier elections and the problems raised within the Miami indictments confirmed that Smartmatic couldn’t be trusted. INQ
