By Gerard Naval

EMBATTLED Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia yesterday refused to comment on allegations against Smartmatic International that it is behind an ongoing “demolition job” against him and the poll body.

“No comment… The truth will eventually come out,” he said when asked to comment on reports quoting former Biliran representative Glenn Chong that Comelec’s former systems provider is orchestrating the smear campaign directed at him.

Asked if details of Chong’s disclosure are believable, Garcia said but refused to elaborate, “The pieces of evidence that I gathered are lending credence to what they are saying.”

In previous interviews, however, Garcia gave the impression that the poll automation deal between the Comelec and Miru Systems is likely the root cause of the black propaganda against him.

“In all the press conferences, towards the end, they will say ‘why not use the old machines of the previous service provider?’ It is puzzling. How come the issue is on supposed bribery and corruption but there is a call for the reuse of the old machines?” Garcia said last week.

In an online interview, Chong said Smartmatic is the behind the demolition job against Garcia who is now being accused of corruption and receiving bribes from the new service provider of the Comelec, the South Korean firm Miru Systems.

Chong alleged that Smartmatic would not accept its failure to secure the 2025 automated election system (AES) contract of the Comelec, and it being awarded to Miru.

“Smartmatic got angry, so it made Garcia a project of a smear campaign,” said Chong.

“They will destroy Garcia and Miru, and it will recover the lost contract because it believes that contract is theirs. They will not rest until they have recovered the contract,” he further said.

Chong challenged Garcia’s accuser, SAGIP party-list Rep. Dante Marcoleta, to disclose his sources regarding the alleged offshore bank accounts of the former.