Release of source code seen this week – poll chief

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The controversial source code for the 2013 elections is set to finally be released within this week after several months of failed negotiations.

Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. announced Monday that an agreement has been reached between Dominion Voting Systems Inc. and Smartmatic that will pave the way for the release of the source code.

The source code is the computer software that makes the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines operational in automated elections. It has been held back by Dominion, which owns the technology, due to a legal dispute between them and Smartmatic.

“Last Friday, Smartmatic and Dominion have signed an agreement in America to allow the 2013 source code to be brought to the Philippines,” Brillantes told reporters.

“I also signed my conformé to their agreement and after that we called Systest Labs Inc. (SLI) for them to come here,” he said.

SLI is the international company that conducted an independent certification of the source code to ensure that nothing was wrong with it.

Brillantes said that “all key players” have already met and “once Dominion arrives, [negotiations] are over.”

When asked whether the source code was already in the hands of Comelec, Brillantes declined to answer.

Representatives from Dominion are expected to arrive in the country from the United States within the week.