SEN. Panfilo Lacson said the Commission on Elections should be on guard on what will happen when its system interfaces with Smartmatic in the coming May elections.
Lacson issued the warning in the wake of reports that Smartmatic’s system could have been compromised due to hacking.
“The time will come that the Comelec and Smartmatic’s systems will interface, and Comelec’s systems may be affected if they are not patched. That is a scary scenario,” Lacson said in a radio interview last Saturday.
Lacson made the remark after the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) headed by former police Col. Cezar Mancao said that based on its initial investigation, the poll body’s system has not been hacked “because they are offline” while Smartmatic’s is believed to have been “compromised.”
Mancao bared this last Friday during the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System.
Mancao refused to elaborate and requested an executive session with the oversight committee. Sen. Imee Marcos, chair of the committee in electoral reforms and people’s participation, granted Mancao’s request.
Lacson said that based on their cybersecurity teams’ initial findings, Smartmatic’s system was hacked “with extortion as the possible motive.” He did not give details.
Lacson said their cybersecurity team is now studying the extent of the hacking attack on Smartmatic’s system while adding that Mancao has more explaining to do before lawmakers on the matter.
“He (Mancao) should explain everything. The integrity of the May elections is at stake.
What if the hackers who compromised Smartmatic sold the data to a candidate? Isn’t that dangerous?” Lacson said.
Earlier this month, a report claimed the Comelec servers have been hacked, with hackers reportedly managing to download more than 60 gigabytes of data that could possibly affect the May elections.
The report said hackers were able to download files that included, among others, usernames and PINs of vote-counting machines.
The Comelec refuted the report that its servers set to be used in the May elections were hacked based on the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation, which conducted a site inspection of the poll body’s warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, where the vote-counting machines are stored.
AES USE
More Philippine posts abroad are opting to use the automated election system (AES) for the forthcoming presidential polls.
“We have more overseas posts that use the automated system now. Before, we only had 10 posts using them,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said in a virtual media forum.
“The posts have actually looked at automation. They want automation now.”
He said the AES mode of voting include both personal and postal voting.
For the May 2022 polls, there are a total of 46 Philippine posts that will use automated system, while another 46 will utilize the manual system.
In the 2019 elections, there were 41 Philippine posts that used the AES, while 42 used the manual system of elections.
Back in the 2016 polls, there were only 30 Philippine posts that used the automated system, while 52 used manual voting.
The Comelec said there are an estimated 1.8 million registered overseas voters for the May 2022 polls.
The Comelec is looking to have more spokespersons and intends to designate one per regional office.
“The Comelec has begun the work of establishing a regional network of spokespersons. We are training regional spokespersons coming from the Comelec’s ranks, of course,” said Jimenez.
Among the individuals being trained are assistant regional directors, and provincial election supervisors, among others.
“You will see increasing roles for them as the days go by,” said Jimenez.
Aside from designating spokespersons, he said the traditional reshuffle during the election season is also ongoing.
Jimenez said the reshuffle began late last year and is expected to be completed soon.
“The reshuffle is ongoing involving regional directors, provincial supervisors all the way down to election officer level,” he said.
“This is a move that Comelec does every elections and periodically under the law in order to prevent familiarity between Comelec officials and local politicians. This is a standard practice for the Comelec,” added Jimenez. — With Gerard Naval
