The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday highlighted its commitment to full transparency and accountability as it launched its first-ever procurement summit.

The two-day procurement summit, under Comelec’s Procurement Management Department, includes a delegation of various suppliers, contractors, and service providers.

In a speech, Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said this is in line with the policy direction of the agency to ensure proper management of public funds.

“Kinakailangan may full transparency sa Commission on Elections (The Comelec needs to have full transparency), accountability, and inclusiveness. Hindi pwedeng iilan lang ang nakakaalam o nagpa-participate (It should not be known nor participated by only a few),” he said.

He noted complete transparency is crucial, considering the huge amount of public funds being spent during election preparations and execution.

“Manual man o automated, billions ang ginagastos po natin, hindi lang sa pag-procure ng supplies, kundi sa pag-deliver sa logistics (Manual or automated, we are spending billions [of pesos], not only for supply procurement but also for delivering in logistics)… The Comelec must always be accountable to the people, every single cent must be properly accounted,” Garcia said.

As part of accountability measures, Comelec is set to release a procurement manual in the next coming days.

“Ilalabas na po natin ang procurement manual at ipapasa po ‘yan upang masabi natin na ang Comelec ay predictable (We will release the procurement manual and pass it so we can say that the Comelec is predictable),” Garcia said.

“Ibig sabihin, alam niyo ho nasaan kayo, ano ang requirements, at bakit kayo kulang nung tinimbang, at kayo ba ay makapasa lalung-lalo na pagdating sa mga requirements (Meaning, you know where you are, what are the requirements, what are your lapses, and whether you pass the requisitions or not),” he added.

To ensure inclusivity, Garcia vowed to combat unnecessary favors for suppliers.

“Ang dapat po lahat ay may pagkakataon na mag-participate sa Comelec. Dapat wala po kayong takot na mag-participate sa procurement namin dahil maayos naman basta kumpleto ang dokumento (Everyone should be given opportunity to participate in Comelec, we should not fear participating procurement because it’s organized as long as you have complete documents),” he said.

For the first summit, discussions on procurement planning, contract implementation process, Comelec requirements, procurement delays and failure factors, and the role of the Commission on Audit (COA) in procurement, among others were included in the topics.

Unliquidated cash advances

Garcia, meanwhile, said that part of the Comelec’s efforts is ramping up of liquidation for its PHP2 billion worth of cash advances flagged by COA.

The said cash advances were attributed to Comelec officials and employees, used during the May 2022 polls, but which remained unliquidated until December last year.

He cited the commission’s target to reduce the unliquidated amount to around PHP200 million this year.

“Para sa kaalaman ng lahat (For the information of everyone), the Comelec en banc passed a resolution, stating that all those with unliquidated cash advances na mga official namin and employee, lahat ng salaries nila (who are our officials and employees, all of their salaries) and benefits will be withheld until they’re able to liquidate the remaining cash advances,” Garcia said.

He added that the poll body is considering the filing of criminal charges against those who will fail to liquidate their cash advances.

As of July 12, Comelec has reduced its unliquidated cash advances to a little over PHP717 million. (PNA)