The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) today denied newspaper reports claiming that the head of its Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC), Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, has engaged in the “fixing” of the ongoing poll automation bidding process to favor a specific bidder. The deed, according to said reports, was allegedly shown on a video posted in a popular media sharing site, Youtube.

But COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez was quick to deny the allegations, saying that the reports were “unfair as it unjustly paints the COMELEC with irregularity and wrongdoing in the poll automation bidding process.”

“What was shown in the video posted on Youtube were three men rummaging through documents. None of the men shown on the video appear to be Atty. Rafanan and yet newspapers carried stories, with headlines in screaming bold letters to boot, that he was among those who were caught on cam doing the dirty deed,” said Jimenez.

“Atty. Rafanan is a man of integrity and principles. Attempting to bribe a person like Atty. Rafanan, as they say, is like bribing the Pope,” said Jimenez as he assured the public that “the COMELEC has, since day one, kept the poll automation bidding process open and transparent as possible.”

Jimenez, likewise, defended the COMELEC’s decision to set the deadline for the filing of Certificates of Candidacy (COC) on November 30, 2009 in light of the preparations the poll body has to undertake for the automation of the May 10, 2010 elections.

He said the COMELEC did not violate any law with the setting of the November 30 deadline, saying that Section 13 of the Republic Act 9369 allows the poll body to “set the deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy/petition of registration/manifestation to participate in the elections.” ###