By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568388&publicationSubCategoryId=63
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday took the first step to thwart any attempt to alter the results of the country’s first automated elections by entering passwords to secure the system.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the poll body, together with two opposition legislators, already entered three separate passwords and locked the Central Canvassing System (CCS) of the automated election system.
Melo said he, Sen. Francis Escudero and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. each entered a six- to eight-character code to prevent anyone from opening the entire automated election system.
“Each of us entered a code and we don’t know each other’s password so the system is now locked and in order to open the CCS, the three of us should be there and must re-enter the code,” Melo explained.
He said the Comelec had to lock the CCS to ensure the system would be “unpolluted” or cannot be modified by anybody who would want to tamper with the election results.
Melo also reported that the Comelec is set to “decommission” the National Printing Office (NPO) printing machine as soon as the last ballot is printed on Saturday.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body will delete all the files and seal the printing machine to avoid printing of extra ballots.
“We have to do this to ensure that there will be no additional ballots or that genuine ballots can be substituted,” Larrazabal pointed out.
He said they expect the verification, packaging and transport of the ballots to be completed in a few days.
Also yesterday, Melo discounted the possibility of manipulating the spare precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, which the poll body is readying to replace those that will break down on election day.
“I don’t think anybody can just monkey around with the PCOS because we are now doing the final testing and sealing of all the machines. Aside from that, representatives of candidates and political parties are tightly watching over those machines,” Melo stressed.
The Comelec also reported that they were able to transfer printed ballots from the NPO in Quezon City to the Philippine Postal Office in Manila at the much lower cost of P23 million.
“From P92 million we were able to move the ballots at a reduced price of P23 million,” Melo said.
Larrazabal said the cut in cost of transport was due to cancellation of some unnecessary equipment and security proposed in the initial deal.
At this time, Melo said, the Comelec is now 100 percent on target in its preparations for the coming elections.
Lawyers’ group expresses concern on lack of preparations
Meanwhile, the Philippine Bar Association (PBA), the oldest voluntary national organization of lawyers throughout the Philippines, expressed deep concern over the Comelec’s lack of preparation and safeguards for the elections.
“As the constitutional body created for the purpose of conducting free, peaceful, fair and credible elections, the Comelec has the unenviable responsibility of ensuring that the country’s first automated elections will be a resounding success. Unfortunately, the 2010 national elections is less than one month away and yet, so many problems remain extant,” the PBA said in its letter submitted to the Comelec yesterday.
PBA president and former Ombudsman and solicitor general Simeon Marcelo, on behalf of PBA, emphasized with much apprehension that several problems have been plaguing the Comelec’s preparations, such as: (1) malfunctioning PCOS machines; (2) lack of independent source code review; (3) delayed printing of official ballots; (4) controversies in the public biddings for the supply of indelible ink and ballot secrecy folders; (5) unreliable logistics firms; (6) lack of transparency in the canvassing of votes; (7) lack of contingency continuity plans; (8) lack of an effective voter’s education campaign; and (9) lack of a legal framework in case of failure of elections.
In addition, the Comelec has brazenly refused to conduct a manual count, as proposed by several election watchdogs and business groups, to ensure trustworthy results, the PBA said.
They also noted that there are clear, consistent and convincing indications of a probable and impending failure in poll automation.
“The last line of defense to prevent a failure of elections is for the Comelec to conduct a full manual audit before the proclamation of candidates. The manual count serves to validate the automation system and ensure the accuracy of the votes. Even if there is no external fraud, the PCOS machines are prone to internal manipulation,” the letter further expounded.
The PBA strongly recommended that the Comelec should conduct a manual count of all precincts with respect to the votes cast for president, vice-president, congressman, mayor and governor. “The BEl should open the ballot boxes and commence the manual count for the five positions after the casting of the ballots and the printing of election returns, but prior to the transmittal of electronic results,” the PBA said.
They added that watchers of political parties and candidates, together with the public, should be allowed to witness the manual count.
“Only if the results of the manual count for the above positions match the results of prior election returns printed by the PCOS machines should the electronic results be transmitted to the proper canvassing centers. The manual count itself will not take too much time since only five positions will be considered, the ballots to be counted will not exceed 1,000 and there will be no need to interpret the ballots since, unlike in past elections, all votes now are made by simply shading the appropriate circle next to a candidate’s name,” they said.
According to the PBA, if the Comelec refuses to adopt and implement such proposals, such refusal will strongly heighten suspicions “that the Comelec is an active participant in the rumored efforts of certain sinister forces to cause a failure of elections that will create a legal void and violence in our land.”
“When the time comes, depending on the results of the elections, the people will know who to praise, who to blame, and also, who will be made accountable, both civilly and criminally. Most importantly, should there be a failure of elections, history will always remember with revulsion, those who were principally responsible for it, and the sufferings and hardships that it caused our people,” the PBA said.
Former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod, for his part, said manual count should prevail over the electronic count should there be a discrepancy between the two.
Speaking before business leaders at the Makati Business Club, Monsod said the rule should be that the manual count trumps the automated count because the intent of the voter cannot be recognized by the machine.
“The manual check is more reliable,” Monsod said. He noted the margin of error for machine count is too wide at three per 100 ballots.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, for his part, yesterday urged Filipino voters to be vigilant in the coming elections.
“We’ll have to be very vigilant because things can really go bad, there are too many lapses and failures of automation,” Panganiban said. With Jose Rodel Clapano, Ma. Elisa Osorio
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568388&publicationSubCategoryId=63
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday took the first step to thwart any attempt to alter the results of the country’s first automated elections by entering passwords to secure the system.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the poll body, together with two opposition legislators, already entered three separate passwords and locked the Central Canvassing System (CCS) of the automated election system.
Melo said he, Sen. Francis Escudero and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. each entered a six- to eight-character code to prevent anyone from opening the entire automated election system.
“Each of us entered a code and we don’t know each other’s password so the system is now locked and in order to open the CCS, the three of us should be there and must re-enter the code,” Melo explained.
He said the Comelec had to lock the CCS to ensure the system would be “unpolluted” or cannot be modified by anybody who would want to tamper with the election results.
Melo also reported that the Comelec is set to “decommission” the National Printing Office (NPO) printing machine as soon as the last ballot is printed on Saturday.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body will delete all the files and seal the printing machine to avoid printing of extra ballots.
“We have to do this to ensure that there will be no additional ballots or that genuine ballots can be substituted,” Larrazabal pointed out.
He said they expect the verification, packaging and transport of the ballots to be completed in a few days.
Also yesterday, Melo discounted the possibility of manipulating the spare precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, which the poll body is readying to replace those that will break down on election day.
“I don’t think anybody can just monkey around with the PCOS because we are now doing the final testing and sealing of all the machines. Aside from that, representatives of candidates and political parties are tightly watching over those machines,” Melo stressed.
The Comelec also reported that they were able to transfer printed ballots from the NPO in Quezon City to the Philippine Postal Office in Manila at the much lower cost of P23 million.
“From P92 million we were able to move the ballots at a reduced price of P23 million,” Melo said.
Larrazabal said the cut in cost of transport was due to cancellation of some unnecessary equipment and security proposed in the initial deal.
At this time, Melo said, the Comelec is now 100 percent on target in its preparations for the coming elections.
Lawyers’ group expresses concern on lack of preparations
Meanwhile, the Philippine Bar Association (PBA), the oldest voluntary national organization of lawyers throughout the Philippines, expressed deep concern over the Comelec’s lack of preparation and safeguards for the elections.
“As the constitutional body created for the purpose of conducting free, peaceful, fair and credible elections, the Comelec has the unenviable responsibility of ensuring that the country’s first automated elections will be a resounding success. Unfortunately, the 2010 national elections is less than one month away and yet, so many problems remain extant,” the PBA said in its letter submitted to the Comelec yesterday.
PBA president and former Ombudsman and solicitor general Simeon Marcelo, on behalf of PBA, emphasized with much apprehension that several problems have been plaguing the Comelec’s preparations, such as: (1) malfunctioning PCOS machines; (2) lack of independent source code review; (3) delayed printing of official ballots; (4) controversies in the public biddings for the supply of indelible ink and ballot secrecy folders; (5) unreliable logistics firms; (6) lack of transparency in the canvassing of votes; (7) lack of contingency continuity plans; (8) lack of an effective voter’s education campaign; and (9) lack of a legal framework in case of failure of elections.
In addition, the Comelec has brazenly refused to conduct a manual count, as proposed by several election watchdogs and business groups, to ensure trustworthy results, the PBA said.
They also noted that there are clear, consistent and convincing indications of a probable and impending failure in poll automation.
“The last line of defense to prevent a failure of elections is for the Comelec to conduct a full manual audit before the proclamation of candidates. The manual count serves to validate the automation system and ensure the accuracy of the votes. Even if there is no external fraud, the PCOS machines are prone to internal manipulation,” the letter further expounded.
The PBA strongly recommended that the Comelec should conduct a manual count of all precincts with respect to the votes cast for president, vice-president, congressman, mayor and governor. “The BEl should open the ballot boxes and commence the manual count for the five positions after the casting of the ballots and the printing of election returns, but prior to the transmittal of electronic results,” the PBA said.
They added that watchers of political parties and candidates, together with the public, should be allowed to witness the manual count.
“Only if the results of the manual count for the above positions match the results of prior election returns printed by the PCOS machines should the electronic results be transmitted to the proper canvassing centers. The manual count itself will not take too much time since only five positions will be considered, the ballots to be counted will not exceed 1,000 and there will be no need to interpret the ballots since, unlike in past elections, all votes now are made by simply shading the appropriate circle next to a candidate’s name,” they said.
According to the PBA, if the Comelec refuses to adopt and implement such proposals, such refusal will strongly heighten suspicions “that the Comelec is an active participant in the rumored efforts of certain sinister forces to cause a failure of elections that will create a legal void and violence in our land.”
“When the time comes, depending on the results of the elections, the people will know who to praise, who to blame, and also, who will be made accountable, both civilly and criminally. Most importantly, should there be a failure of elections, history will always remember with revulsion, those who were principally responsible for it, and the sufferings and hardships that it caused our people,” the PBA said.
Former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod, for his part, said manual count should prevail over the electronic count should there be a discrepancy between the two.
Speaking before business leaders at the Makati Business Club, Monsod said the rule should be that the manual count trumps the automated count because the intent of the voter cannot be recognized by the machine.
“The manual check is more reliable,” Monsod said. He noted the margin of error for machine count is too wide at three per 100 ballots.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, for his part, yesterday urged Filipino voters to be vigilant in the coming elections.
“We’ll have to be very vigilant because things can really go bad, there are too many lapses and failures of automation,” Panganiban said. With Jose Rodel Clapano, Ma. Elisa Osorio
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