THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave assurances on Thursday that it has already completed the necessary safeguards for the software component of its automated election system (AES) for the forthcoming May 13, 2019, national and local elections.
The poll body also said it has completed the review and certification of the remaining three more source codes, which were deposited at the vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for safekeeping on Thursday.
Comelec Executive Director Jose M. Tolentino Jr. said the three source codes passed the scrutiny of Pro V and V, their international certification entity and the review of their local source code reviewers.
“None of them [bore] any malicious code embedded in the source codes,” Tolentino told reporters in a media briefing.
The recently certified source codes are that of AES’s operating system image rebuild, transmission router and domain name service (DNS) janitor.
Last February, the Comelec deposited a copy of the certified source codes of its Election Management System (EMS), Vote Counting Machine (VCM) and Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS) in escrow at the BSP.
With all of the essential source codes for the 2019 elections now certified, Tolentino said, the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC)—which has representatives from Comelec, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Department of Education (DepEd)—will now be able to issue the certification.
The TEC certification ensures all the AES, both its software and hardware, have been tested and working as it is intended to be, he added.
Fake ballots
Tolentino said all the necessary measures for authenticating ballots are in place.
He said this was the reason they were able to immediately flag a video, circulating online, showing the alleged existence of a 2019 election ballot, which had been pre-shaded with ultra-violet (UV) marks.
The video featured a ballot with supposed UV marks on the oval of some candidates, when shone with a UV light.
Tolentino dismissed the authenticity of the ballot used in the “staged” video since it did not contain a Quick Response (QR) code.
“Every [official] ballot has a QR code. It contains among others the serial number of the ballot and the precinct assignment,” Tolentino said in the same media briefing.
He added that any attempt from unscrupulous parties to use tampered ballots will immediately be rejected by the VCM.
The election official noted while the ballot has UV marks in some of its parts as a security feature, none of it has been placed on the ovals.
Restricted access
Lastly, election officials also said the Comelec’s official web site is now protected from further hacking.
In 2016, Comelec’s web site was hacked, allowing the group behind it to illegally download the personal information of millions of registered voters.
Following the data breach, Comelec transferred the hosting of its web site to the DICT, which maintains a tight cyber security measure.
The new arrangement, Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez said, was the reason they were not able to come up with a precinct finder web site for voters for the 2019 midterm elections.
“All of our possible inputs for the web site must first go through the DICT,” Jimenez said.