Comelec to release final report on alleged server hacking this week — Jimenez

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will come up with a final report this week on the alleged hacking of their servers, its spokesperson James Jimenez said on Tuesday.

Jimenez also said the different units of the poll body will meet this Tuesday morning to investigate.

“Bago matapos ang linggo makakapaglabas tayo ng final report tungkol diyan. Ngayong umaga pa lang sisimulan na natin yung pagpupulong natin with all our different units para makita natin kung ano ba ang talagang nangyari,” Jimenez said over Teleradyo.

(Before the end of the week we would release a final report about that. This morning we will start our meeting with our different units to see what really happened.)

The Manila Bulletin on Monday reported that hackers were allegedly able to breach the servers of Comelec and purportedly stole files including usernames and personal identification numbers of vote-counting machines.

Comelec said those information do not exist yet in Comelec’s systems because these files have not been completed yet.

Jimenez, meanwhile, admitted that the recent report would cast doubt on the integrity of the upcoming elections, with a warning that someone would need to be held accountable should the report come out as false.

“Actually yan nga ang nakakabahala, kasi nakikita naman natin kung bakit talaga magiging ganoon ang reaction ng taong bayan no. Pag sinabi mong may data breach sa Comelec talagang kakabahan ang mga tao,” he said when asked if the recent report put into question the integrity of upcoming elections.

(Actually, that is alarming because we saw that the public would react that way. When you said that there is data breach in Comelec the people would naturally be alarmed.)

“Kaya nga sa amin, mahalaga na ma-validate natin ito, at kung sakaling mali nga yung report, eh syempre mayroong mananagot diyan. Mayroong mananagot, kasi bigla-biglang naglalabas ng report without verification,” he added.

(That’s why for us, it’s important to validate this report, and if ever the report is wrong, of course someone should be held accountable. Someone needs to be accountable, because they are releasing reports without verification.)

EDV