MANILA, Philippines--The Commission on Elections has the option to buy the vote-reading and counting of Smartmatic International-Total Information Management Corp. for an additional P2 billion, Comelec legal chief Ferdinand Rafanan said.

The provision, Rafanan explained, is part of the P7.2-billion contract between the poll body and Smartmatic-TIM, the consortium that will provide Comelec the electronic machines software for the 2010 general elections. It will be the country?s first nationwide computerized election.

?That?s how it is. It is part of the contract to lease with an option to purchase,? Rafanan said. ?If we buy it, it will cost us P2.1 billion more. It means we will pay Smartmatic P9.3 billion? he said.

The amount is well within the Comelec?s budget for the automated poll exercise, which is P11.2 billion.

Rafanan said the Comelec will base its decision on the performance of the voting machines.

It had stated earlier that it made more economic sense to lease the machines as no costs for storage, transport and maintenance were involved, not to mention obsolescence.

The poll official stressed that the Comelec will not buy the machines if the Smartmatic-TIM system fails in the elections or if there are widespread glitches in the elections.

The Comelec, he noted, has until Dec. 31, 2010 to exercise its option to purchase the vote counters.

Rafanan downplayed concerns that the machines would be obsolete for the 2013 elections. If the machines are still in working condition, it can still be used, he said.

If the poll body buys the machines from the consortium, the Comelec will have the ?responsibility? of storing and securing them.

He noted that the Smartmatic-TIM machines were small and would not take up much space in a warehouse.

Rafanan also said the poll body will have security settings to ensure that the machines are not tampered with.

The deal between the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM is set to be signed on Tuesday.

Despite some reservations from lawmakers who called on the Comelec to further investigate the consortium, Rafanan said the contract signing will push through so as not to further delay election preparations.