‘Our fact-checkers’ training
told us to immediately do lateral reading, go out of the Manila Bulletin site, and check if other news media sites carried
the same report. Nada.’
THERE were so many things not quite right in the Manila Bulletin news report about alleged hacking of the Commission on Elections website. The quick response from Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez foiled further spread of that suspicious report.
Jimenez took the bull by its horn. A valuable lesson not only to fight disinformation but how to prevent something from becoming a problem, or a crisis.
The report came to our attention late afternoon of Monday, Jan. 10. It said that “Sensitive voter information may have been compromised after a group of hackers was allegedly able to breach the servers of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), downloading more than 60 gigabytes of data that could possibly affect the May 2022 elections.
“This was discovered by the Manila Bulletin (MB) Technews team, which found that the hackers’ group managed to breach the system of the Comelec last Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, and download files that included, among others, usernames and PINS of vote-counting machines (VCM).”
The story had the byline “MB Technews,” which indicates that not one person but members of the newspaper’s technews team worked on the story.
The report triggered concern because this is not the first time that government agencies’ websites including the Comelec’s, have been hacked. There is also the approaching May 9, 2022 elections that everyone looks forward to as the campaign heats up even as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 rampages, setting new levels of infections.
Our fact-checkers’ training told us to immediately do lateral reading, go out of the Manila Bulletin site, and check if other news media sites carried the same report. Nada.
We got Jimenez’ statement which said they were “validating” the news report. He did not dismiss the report outright but pointed out red flags:
“With no independent verification that a hack has indeed taken place, one thing immediately stands out: the article alleges that the hackers were able to ‘download files that included, among others, usernames and PINS (personal identification numbers) of vote-counting machines (VCM).’The fact, however, is that such information still does not exist in Comelec systems simply because the configuration files — which includes usernames and PINs — have not yet been completed. This calls into question the veracity of the hacking claim.”
Jimenez further said, “As for the rest of the allegations made, please note that the article offers scant substantiation for its assertions despite claiming that the authors had ‘verified that there was an ongoing hack.’ Indeed, the article does not even offer proof of such verification.”
As expected, there were already several theories and comments on social media. There were those who suspected those loyal to President Duterte sabotaging the May 9 elections for a No-EL scenario to allow Duterte to stay in Malacañang after June 30,2022. The seed of this suspicion could have been the proposal of Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. (Pampanga 3rd District) filed Jan. 7 for longer terms for the president, members of the House and local officials on the argument that six years for a president and three years for House members are “too short.”
Later in the evening, we came upon this Twitter Account @KimInar by someone who described herself as a “world traveler, lawyer, critic, hard-working, and independent woman.”
Earlier, they arranged a Twitter Party with the theme “Protect our Vote “and hashtag #ComelecHacked. It carried the Manila Bulletin report headline.
KimInar tweeted: “Can we still entrust our vote with the Comelec?” and encouraged others to “RT.”
Jose@edsaisidro wrote: “So if not for the MB Technews team, we wouldn’t have known this hacking incident? Talagang nanakawin ulit ang mga boto natin?”
Anathema Crapolla@anathemacrapola chimed in: “This plus yung pang tatag team ni Jimenez at Guanzon ng tweets para hiyain si Bongbong sa dapat walang kwentang DQ issue, plus yung cryptic tweet ni Andy Bautista…… Ano ba ito? Harap harapang pangaggago? Eleksyon pa ba? Bigay nyo na kay Leni. Nahiya pa kayo.”
Did the Manila Bulletin news report had something to do with the petitions to disqualify presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. being heard by the Comelec First Division?
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon started the hearing Jan. 7, Friday. Marcos, Jr. did not attend. His lawyer said he was not feeling well and that he was exposed to persons found positive of COVID-19.
Guanzon announced in Instagram that “On or before Jan. 17, the Comelec First Division will promulgate its resolution on the DQ cases versus Marcos Jr. If not too risky, we will read it in the Session Hall on livestream.”
