Pacquiao: Congress should look into alleged hacking of Comelec servers

MANILA, Philippines — Congress should look into the hacking of the servers of Commission on Elections (Comelec), presidential aspirant Senator Manny Pacquiao said Tuesday.

In a statement, Pacquiao also urged the Comelec to “allow political parties to conduct an independent and third party audit on the extent of the alleged hacking incident.”

“Congress should exercise its oversight powers in relation to Republic Act  8436 or the Automated Election Law. This is not the first time that the Comelec has been hacked and this shows very serious security flaws on the poll body’s computer system,” the senator said.

“Hindi na ito dapat palampasin at kailangang magpaliwanag ang Comelec kung ano ang totoong pangyayari at kung ano ang epekto nito sa darating na halalan,” he added.

(We should not let this slide and the Comelec needs to explain what really happened and what are the effects seen on the upcoming polls.)

Congress should also be informed of any measures the Comelec will put in place in case the country’s automated polling system is compromised, according to Pacquiao.

On Monday, the Manila Bulletin 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 spokesperson James Jimenez, however, said those information do not exist yet in the poll body’s systems because these files have not been completed yet.

Jimenez, nevertheless, said the Comelec is still validating the alleged data breach.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who is seeking the presidency, and her vice presidential running mate Senator Francis Pangilinan have also expressed alarm over the alleged hacking of the Comelec servers.

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