As it turns out even the Commission on Elections agrees that Smartmatic cannot be blamed for the delays in the shipping of its Precinct Count Optical Scan machines or PCOS.

Here's what Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez had to say about the issue. This is taken from an ans-cbnnews.com report.

COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez confirmed a "gentleman's agreement" was forged between COMELEC and Smartmatic-TIM. Jimenez said this is why the COMELEC sees no reason, at this point, to hold the vendor liable for delivery delays.

"There is no election-related activity stalled attributable to the absence of the machines as of now. No major preparation has been affected. For example, mock elections and fields tests are scheduled to be conducted next year yet, we continue the relationship with Smartmatic-TIM and see no reason to impose sanctions or penalty charges at this point, as long as they are able to deliver all 82,200 machines in February," Jimenez said.

The group Concerned Citizens' Movement or CCM  is convinced Comelec should impose sanctions on Smartmatic for the delay. It says the changes in schedule should already be a ground for the cancellation of the contract with Smartmatic.

Of course, CCM will not acknowledge the fact that its filing of a petition before the Supreme Court is also partly to blame for the delays. Take note dear readers, the case ran for two months before it was decided upon by the Supreme Court.

Here's the full report from abs-cbnnews.com.

And, here's the Supreme Court decision on the CCM petition.