House Suffrage and Electoral Reforms Committee Chairman Teodoro Locsin Jr., said that Total Information Management, Corp. (TIM) should keep distance from automated poll accounting come the 2010 general election, even as it retains its partnership with the Barbados-based Smartmatic International for the automation of the country’s election.

This, he said, is necessary to spare the result of the 2010 automated elections from suspicion of irregularities.

The Makati congressman told a radio interview, with news anchor Karen Davilla over DZMM, that although the TIM has remained Smartmatic’s partner in the automation of the 2010 polls, it has to stay away from the operation of the counting machines after its reputation got tainted in the light of its attempt to back out of the automation project.

The mere patching up of the difference between Smartmatic and the TIM does not erase the question on the actual intention of the latter when it tried to withdraw from the concession to automate the upcoming elections.

Earlier announcements that TIM was backing out of the poll automation project stirred speculations that it was doing the Palace as it was expected to impel reversion to manual poll counting.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casino expressed suspicion that TIM’s attempt to back out could have been designed to force the Comelec to revert to manuaL counting so that Malacañang could have its way in manipulating the election results. He went to the extent to linking Jose Mari Antunez, head of the TIM, to the First Family through the Aboitiz clan.

Casiño said his curiosity over TIM’s connections was piqued when he found out that a brother of Antuñez, Julio, was married to one of the Aboitiz scions.

The Aboitiz family is close to President Macapagal Arroyo and is based in Cebu, regarded as an administration bailiwick.

Although he dismissed such theory, Locsin said the best thing TIM could do to preserve the credibility of the automated counting is to stay away from the counting machines during the election.

On Friday, officials of the Smartmatic and TIM, came out with a joint statement reiterating their commitment to the poll automation project.

“Both companies, fully aware that above all private concerns lies the desire of the Filipino people for automated elections, maintain the agreements reached in April this year, and gladly announce to the Comelec our continuation with the full automation of the elections in May 2010,” they said.

The two companies said they had signed all the documents for the incorporation of the joint venture, for submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

“Under the aegis of this joint-venture corporation, we shall move as one,” they said, adding that the P7.2-billion poll automation contract would be signed with the Comelec later next week.

“To all the stakeholders in the elections of 2010, Smartmatic and TIM would like to manifest our assurance that the automation of the 2010 elections will push through, and that we stand behind the Comelec,” the two firms said.

The automation of polls in 2010 is not a reason for the public to give up vigilance against fraud, according to United Opposition and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay as he warned of possible attempts to sabotage the election process.

Binay also urged the Commission on Elections to prepare for a "No Proclamation" scenario resulting from a sabotage of poll results.

"It would be a challenge for the Comelec to address incidents of sabotage, especially during the counting of votes, if the loyalty of some ranking police and military officers is to Mrs. Arroyo and not the Constitution," he said in a statement.

The opposition leader added that while the Smartmatic International and it’s local counterpart, Total Information Management Inc., are saying that they have planned for poll-related contingencies, the "no proclamation" scenario still looms as a probability and would be a challenge for the poll body.

"Those who are determined to cheat, and especially those who are fearful that an honest election will remove them from power will definitely find ways to mess with the election results. [That is why] the fate of our democracy should not rest on machines but on the people," Binay said.