WITH the winning candidates now proclaimed, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will shut down today the servers and networks of the automated elections system (AES) used in the last May 9 polls.
In an advisory, the Comelec said the servers set to be powered down are the Central Data Center in Taguig City, Transparency Data Center in Parañaque City, and Backup Data Center in Quezon City.
It said the shutdown of the AES servers and network infrastructure shall be done in the presence of political parties and citizens’ arm groups.
On the other hand, the Comelec said the activity is not open to the media due to security reasons in the data centers.
It will, however, be streamed live on the official COMELEC Facebook page (facebook.com/comelec.ph) and YouTube Channel (youtube.com/COMELEC).
Meanwhile, the social action arm of the Catholic Church yesterday expressed disapproval to the proposal to postpone the December 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
In a statement, Caritas Philippines said they are not in favor of postponing the BSKE as it goes against the principles of democracy.
“It is not right for the government to suppress electoral processes, especially that the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are seen as the most accessible and organic form of citizen’s engagement in public service and governance,” said Caritas Philippines Director Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo.
“Pushing back the Barangay and SK elections for the third time since 2016 reflects how our national political leaders undermine the importance of barangay level politics in the exercise of our democratic rights,” he added.
Worse, Caritas Philippines Executive Secretary Fr. Tony Labiao said, is that the reason being cited by its proponents can be considered as “lame”.
He said this is because there are enough public funds that can still be used for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response.
