• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez yesterday debunked the “baseless claims” of former Mayor Evelio Leonardia, in connection with the city government’s P2.1-billion public-private partnership (PPP) contract with Highdata Infra Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMS Global Technologies Inc.
In a statement issued through his spokesperson Caesar Distrito, Benitez said that the project was lawfully processed and awarded under the PPP Code through a transparent and compliant process.
Allegations linking this contract to the May 12 elections are false and misleading, Benitez said.
Leonardia, who is challenging Benitez in the Lone District congressional race, has requested Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia for the conduct of manual counting and manual tallying at the precinct level of votes for local candidates in Bacolod City, before the electronic transmission of election results is made to the City Board of Canvassers during the May 12 elections.
SMS Global is a service provider of the Comelec for the 2025 overseas online voting, which has been questioned by several overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in social media posts for allegedly not correctly reflecting the names of the candidates they voted for.
“This is a clear and significant conflict of interest that compromises the sanctity of the ballot because of the partnership forged by the concerned parties,” Leonardia said.
Benitez clarified that SMS Global Technologies Inc. and its joint venture partner are providing Comelec an overseas voting system for use only by OFWs abroad and only for the election of national candidates and not of local candidates.
He further stressed that the system cannot operate within the Philippines.
SMS Global and Highdata have no access to Comelec data, infrastructure, or systems, Benitez said.
Highdata Infra Corp. reportedly has a paid-up capital of less than P2 million, but was awarded a multi-billion midnight deal last January 24 by Benitez, according to Leonardia.
The resulting PPP contract was ratified by the City Council on March 5, just 23 days before the election ban started on March 28 for such government transactions in local government units, he added.
The former mayor also called on the citizens of Bacolod to be watchful of attempts to manipulate the electronic counting and transmission of votes in order to safeguard the sanctity of the ballots in the May 12 polls.
Benitez urged all parties to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the city government remains committed to transparent governance and electoral integrity. | GB
