Comelec allays fear of ‘cheating’ after transparency server glitch

Comelec Commisioner Rowena Guanzon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday denied accusations of “cheating” after a glitch with the transparency server caused the delay in the release of partial election results to poll watchdogs and the media.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon stressed that despite the defect in the transparency server, the poll body’s “central server” is functioning well and continuously receiving election returns from clustered precincts.

“Lahat ng mga Director na kailangan doon sa transparency server nandoon. At makita mo naman po na walang daya, may central server naman tayo at ‘yun namang central server was working perfectly,” Guanzon said in an interview over dzMM.

Guanzon noted that the glitch was caused by the malfunction of data packets coming from the transparency server of the poll body.

She explained that the data packets were “shocked” after they simultaneously received election data.

“‘Yung 8 hours na di nagtatransmit sa transparency server ang mga election results, ang reason po doon ay ‘yun pong data packet,” she said.

“Bawat presinto merong packet file, doon po nagkaproblema. Kaya po nadelay kumbaga parang na-shock ‘yung system kasi nagrush, sabay sabay pumasok ang data,” Guanzon added.

To explain the technicality of the glitch, Guanzon said Comelec Commissioners Marlon Casquejo and Luie Tito Guia will hold a press briefing around 1 p.m. at the PICC Forum.