The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said it is ready for Tuesday’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the legality of the P7.2-billion contract for the automation of the May 10, 2010 polls which has been challenged in a petition filed by the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) led by Prof. Harry Roque and other lawyers from the University of the Philippines.

The Comelec Chairman Jose A.R. Melo said Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento and Lucenito N. Tagle have been assigned to coordinate with the Office of the Solicitor General in preparing for the oral arguments.

“The 2010 elections is coming up fast, and the Filipino people are looking forward to it, quite possibly with more anticipation than any of us can imagine,” Melo said.

Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, concurrently Acting Secretary of Justice, is expected to personally argue for the Comelec, as Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya is one of the respondents in the case.

The Office of the Solicitor General defends official actions of a government office when questioned before the High Court.

Comelec picked Sarmiento, a member of the Constitutional Commission that framed the country’s fundamental law, and Tagle, a retired justice of the Court of Appeals, for the sensitive job as both of them are not new to oral arguments before the Supreme Court and fully conversant with the Government Procurement Reform Act.

Sarmiento and Tagle are also prepared for other issues, aside from legal ones, which may come up during the oral arguments as the Supreme Court has invited the UP Computer Center, National Computer Center and the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines to participate in tomorrow’s hearing.

At the center of controversy is the P7,191,484,739.47 poll automation contract awarded by the Comelec to the newly incorporated Smartmatic TIM Corporation (STM) after a month-long bidding conducted by the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) headed by Comelec Law Department Director Ferdinand T. Rafanan.

STM is a joint venture of Smartmatic International of Netherlands and Total Information Management (TIM) of the Philippines. It is only one of the seven bidders that survived rigorous eligibility and technical screening conducted by SBAC.