Category: Comelec

Ex- Comelec official fears delay in proclamation of winners

Ellen

Former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal.

Former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal.

Five days before Election Day, former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who supervised the first automated elections in 2010 and is now consultant of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said there are a still lot of loose ends that need to be tied to make Monday’s election orderly. He is very concerned with very little time left to put things in order.

He wrote Comelec a letter Monday. One of the issues he raised was the procedure adopted by Comelec on the transmission of election results.

Larrazabal wrote: ““In a discussion last night with COMELEC Spokesperson Dir. Jimenez during the show with Ms Tina Monzon-Palma, it was mentioned that there is a proposed protocol in addressing possible scenarios where there may be multiple complaints on discrepancy as what was shaded in the ballot, and what appears in the voter receipt. One suggestion was that there must be a threshold on the number of complaints before the BEIs may request for a replacement VCM (Vote Counting Machine). I think this should be explored further by the Commission En Banc.”

Larrazabal said the contingency measures laid down by Comelec would result in a situation where “ the City of Municipal board of canvassers cannot transmit the results of the canvassing results of their board, ‘until results from all main SD cards have been imported’”.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista. Photo by Daniel Abunales, VERA Files.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista. Photo by Daniel Abunales, VERA Files.

“Which means that the Provincial Board of Canvassers will not receive any Consolidated Results from that BOC. The result would mean that the PBOC or even NBOC will not be able to complete its canvassing, and will NOT be able to proclaim winners on the provincial level (which includes ALL Provincial positions & members of the House of Representatives). This also means that the PBOC will not be able to complete the canvassing for the position of President and Vice-President,” he further said.

The domino effect. Larrazabal said, “ would be that the National Board of Canvassers may not be able to complete the canvassing of votes for the 12 positions of Senator, and Party-list.”

“All told, the above requirement may result in the hijacking of the canvassing of votes, and the proclamation of winners, for the national positions, “Larrazabal gave a possible alarming scenario.

His other concern is, at this late stage, there is still no protocol for the Board of Election Inspector to verify the HASH CODES of the VCMs. “There has to be a procedure, properly disseminated to the BEIs and stakeholders, on how to verify the authenticity of the software used in the VCMs all over the Philippines,” he said.

He continued:“This is accomplished by verifying the Hash Code of the VCM. The procedures should include how to resolve a dispute in case there is discrepancy in hash codes because THERE IS ONLY ONE HASH CODE FOR ALL VCMS all over the Philippines. The Hash Code for the VCM are found in the Initialization Report and the Election Return. Failure to do this will run counter to the thrust of COMELEC of being transparent. Upon verification, Hash Code for the VCM which was provided to political parties and stakeholders, is:

A1 47 91 C4 2F DA 95 7C 47 DB E3 EA 52 FB 2A A3
9D BF DA AF F6 83 68 7A 80 B6 9F 61 A1 13 EO F7

“In this regard, and with a similar concern, but with reference to the procedures of the Board of Canvassers, there is likewise NO INSTRUCTIONS for the BOC to review the hash codes of the Canvassing & Consolidating System. The representatives of the Dominant Majority and the Dominant Minority parties, major political parties and citizen’s arms SHOULD BE able to verify the Hash Code of the CCS. There is, as of today, likewise no procedure for this.

“There is also no protocol to follow if there is a discrepancy in the hash codes for both the VCM and CCS. The hash Code for the CCS released to the political parties and stakeholders is:

JHhUgS1VQOh7X6ZmWelpt3H3DhH1RdZn27H8YSIq22E=

“Please take note that if there is a discrepancy in the has codes of Either the VCM or CCS, there is presumed to be proof of tampered source codes, and use of an UNAUTHORIZED & ILLEGAL software.”

We share the hope of Larrazabal that these concerns will be addressed the soonest time possible for the peace and stability of democracy in this country.

COMELEC hack exposes 55M voters information to fraud and other risks

Daniel Morial

It seems that the hacking of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) website is more concerning that we initially thought.

comelec-anonymous

Just last month, COMELEC’s website was defaced by a group of hackers and has called for their attention to speak out about the upcoming national elections. Afterwards, another group has leaked COMELEC’s entire database online which is considered as the biggest breach of any government data comprising personal information of 55 million registered voters according to a report by Trend Micro.

Although the election governing body claimed that there is no sensitive data involved, Trend Micro’s research says otherwise. They revealed that OFW’s passport details are exposed to the public for easy access plus 15.8 million of fingerprints and list of people dating back to the 2010 elections. What’s alarming is they are just stored in plain text files without any encryption or security.

This information could be used for fraud, phishing, blackmail, and even extortion. You may read about the full report here.

The post COMELEC hack exposes 55M voters information to fraud and other risks appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Anonymous PH defaces COMELEC website

Carl Lamiel

Anonymous PH members have successfully defaced the Commission of Elections website, and in turn, extracting data from it.

anonymous-comelec

This comes after a call from the local hacktivist’s of a more transparent election system through implementation of the security features on the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines that will be used in the upcoming May 9 elections.

“One of the processes by which people exercise their sovereignty is through voting in an election- where people choose the candidates who will best represent them, who will serve them under the principle that “Public office is a public trust.” But what happens when the electoral process is so mired with questions and controversies? Can the government still guarantee that the sovereignty of the people is upheld?” said the group on their Facebook Page.

Along with the defacement, Lulzsec Pilipinas have also managed to obtain the whole database coming from the website. COMELEC’s web address remains inaccessible as of the moment.

More as we get it.

The post Anonymous PH defaces COMELEC website appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Gordon to Comelec officials: ‘If you cannot do the job, resign.’

Ellen

Photo by Feona Imperial, VERA Files

Photo by Feona Imperial, VERA Files


It’s as simple as that.

Former Senator Richard Gordon who is running again for the Senate slammed officials of the Commission on Elections for painting a doomsday scenario if they were to comply with the Supreme Court decision to have the election machines on May 9 issue receipts of the voter’s vote.

He said postponing the May 9 elections is out of the question. “The Comelec is painting a doomsday scenario so that we will be afraid. It will not happen. What they should paint is they can do it. If they do not want to do it, stop giving excuses, leave your job and give it to somebody who can do the job,” said the principal author of the Election Computerization law and one of the petitioners who asked the High Court to compel the election body to follow the law.

In a vote of 14-0, the High Court last Tuesday ordered the Comelec to “enable the vote verification feature of the vote-counting machines which prints the voter’s choices…”

Last Friday, the Comelec filed with the SC, through Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, a motion for reconsideration saying “There is a strong likelihood that the May 2016 elections will fail if the voting receipt feature is enabled by the Comelec at this very late stage of the project.”

Richard Gordon talking to a child lost in a crowd at the Panabengga Festival in Baguio city.

Richard Gordon talking to a child lost in a crowd at the Panabengga Festival in Baguio city.

Talking with media in Lucena, while on a campaign trail with Partido Galing at Puso led by Presidential Candidate Grace Poe and Vice Presidential Candidate Chiz Escudero, Gordon insinuated that the election officials are up into something not good. He said the election body had six years to do it. “They can still do it. They don’t want to do it because may maitim na balak.”

He said they would rather give in to their “incompetence and laziness.”

He said he can’t buy Comelec’s line that it will further delay the preparation for the May 9 elections as they would have to reconfigure more than 90,000 machines and re-train the hundreds of thousands of Board of Election Inspectors.
He said the reconfiguratioin is just a switch. “You just activate and put it in all the machihes. You can do it in less than a week. I should know. Ako ang gumawa ng batas na yan,” he said.

The SC noted that at the joint congressional oversight committee hearing on Automated Elections last February, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista gave its reasons for refusing to issue paper receipts. “First, politicians can use the receipts in vote buying… second, it may increase voting time to five to seven hours in election precincts.”

It doesn’t make sense for the election body to sacrifice the integrity and credibility of the election for something that they just fear might happen, which vote is buying. Gordon said it’s “baseless and speculative.”

Gordon said “The law is there. Just implement the law.”

The law (specifically Republic Act No. 8436, Section 6(e), (f), and (n), (e) as amended by Republic Act No. 9369) requires that there should be a Provision for voter verified paper audit trail; System auditability which provides supporting documentation for verifying the correctness of reported election results; Provide the voter a system of verification to find out whether or not the machine has registered his choice.

The danger of excusing Comelec not to follow the law for reasons of their own making is that it will set a precedent and who knows, what more they would ask not to implement next time?

Gordon said if the Comelec officials cannot follow the law, they can be impeached. They can be charged for misfeasance and dereliction of duty.

He, however, said it’s difficult because you would need two-thirds vote of the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court said: “The credibility of the results of any election depends, to a large extent, on the confidence of each voter that his or her individual choices have actually been counted. It is in that local precinct after the voter casts his or her ballot that this confidence starts. It is there where it will be possible for the voter to believe that his or her participation as sovereign truly counts.”

Gordon to Comelec officials: ‘If you cannot do the job, resign.’

Ellen

Photo by Feona Imperial, VERA Files

Photo by Feona Imperial, VERA Files


It’s as simple as that.

Former Senator Richard Gordon who is running again for the Senate slammed officials of the Commission on Elections for painting a doomsday scenario if they were to comply with the Supreme Court decision to have the election machines on May 9 issue receipts of the voter’s vote.

He said postponing the May 9 elections is out of the question. “The Comelec is painting a doomsday scenario so that we will be afraid. It will not happen. What they should paint is they can do it. If they do not want to do it, stop giving excuses, leave your job and give it to somebody who can do the job,” said the principal author of the Election Computerization law and one of the petitioners who asked the High Court to compel the election body to follow the law.

In a vote of 14-0, the High Court last Tuesday ordered the Comelec to “enable the vote verification feature of the vote-counting machines which prints the voter’s choices…”

Last Friday, the Comelec filed with the SC, through Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, a motion for reconsideration saying “There is a strong likelihood that the May 2016 elections will fail if the voting receipt feature is enabled by the Comelec at this very late stage of the project.”

Richard Gordon talking to a child lost in a crowd at the Panabengga Festival in Baguio city.

Richard Gordon talking to a child lost in a crowd at the Panabengga Festival in Baguio city.

Talking with media in Lucena, while on a campaign trail with Partido Galing at Puso led by Presidential Candidate Grace Poe and Vice Presidential Candidate Chiz Escudero, Gordon insinuated that the election officials are up into something not good. He said the election body had six years to do it. “They can still do it. They don’t want to do it because may maitim na balak.”

He said they would rather give in to their “incompetence and laziness.”

He said he can’t buy Comelec’s line that it will further delay the preparation for the May 9 elections as they would have to reconfigure more than 90,000 machines and re-train the hundreds of thousands of Board of Election Inspectors.
He said the reconfiguratioin is just a switch. “You just activate and put it in all the machihes. You can do it in less than a week. I should know. Ako ang gumawa ng batas na yan,” he said.

The SC noted that at the joint congressional oversight committee hearing on Automated Elections last February, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista gave its reasons for refusing to issue paper receipts. “First, politicians can use the receipts in vote buying… second, it may increase voting time to five to seven hours in election precincts.”

It doesn’t make sense for the election body to sacrifice the integrity and credibility of the election for something that they just fear might happen, which vote is buying. Gordon said it’s “baseless and speculative.”

Gordon said “The law is there. Just implement the law.”

The law (specifically Republic Act No. 8436, Section 6(e), (f), and (n), (e) as amended by Republic Act No. 9369) requires that there should be a Provision for voter verified paper audit trail; System auditability which provides supporting documentation for verifying the correctness of reported election results; Provide the voter a system of verification to find out whether or not the machine has registered his choice.

The danger of excusing Comelec not to follow the law for reasons of their own making is that it will set a precedent and who knows, what more they would ask not to implement next time?

Gordon said if the Comelec officials cannot follow the law, they can be impeached. They can be charged for misfeasance and dereliction of duty.

He, however, said it’s difficult because you would need two-thirds vote of the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court said: “The credibility of the results of any election depends, to a large extent, on the confidence of each voter that his or her individual choices have actually been counted. It is in that local precinct after the voter casts his or her ballot that this confidence starts. It is there where it will be possible for the voter to believe that his or her participation as sovereign truly counts.”