"After barely surviving over a month of screening and evaluation by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the right to automate the May 10, 2010 polls, Dutch-Venezuelan Smartmatic and Filipino partner Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) is on the verge of break-up, putting the automated elections in peril," ABS-CBN News reports on Monday.  If things get worst, we are surely going back to our good old ballot boxes. 
Or maybe this is just a sign that no-el is really in clear vision.  Personally, why would i risk putting up multimillion investment and eventually end it with nothing.  Critics are saying administration allies are doing their best to push for charter change, behind it the "extension of terms."  Maybe poll automation is not a part of the plans yet.  Or maybe, election fraud will not prosper if we push through with poll automation.  Just asking.