TRANSPARENCY KEY IN ELECTION PREPS: Senate President Vicente Sotto III asks officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Thursday, March 17, 2022, why the poll body disallowed representatives of candidates, political parties and non-government organizations from witnessing its printing of official ballots and other activities in preparation for the May 9 national and local elections. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — While there is yet to be an indication that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) system has been compromised, Senate President Vicente Sotto III called for another Senate hearing into possible security breaches that may affect the conduct of this year’s polls.
“I am concerned that our election gatekeepers lacked in ensuring the integrity of the May 9 elections. The people’s right to an honest and credible election is enshrined in our Constitution and the Comelec is tasked to ensure that the results of the elections are not tainted with doubt and especially, that the conduct of the electoral exercise was not attended by anomalies,” he said in a statement.
“Dapat lang na magpatawag pa ang Senado ng imbestigasyon sa mga nangyaring security breach sa Comelec na may kinalaman sa paparating na eleksyon. Aalamin natin kung gaano na kalalim at kalawak ang inabot ng pagpapabaya,” he added.
According to Sotto, election and technical experts should be invited to determine the risks brought about by the alleged security breach and how this will affect the upcoming May 9 polls.
Earlier, Senate electoral reforms committee chairperson Senator Imee Marcos disclosed some details of the executive session she and other senators, including Sotto, held with Comelec officials.
She said there “indeed was a security breach in the Smartmatic operation.” Smartmatic, however, denied this.
“In our meeting today, it became clear that there was a breach in the Smartmatic systems. For now, there is no indication that the Comelec system has been compromised. It is unfortunate, though, that the poll body did not immediately ask for an executive session of the JCOC (Joint Congressional Oversight Committee when the breach happened,” Sotto went on.
“It should have been more forthright with this information, which is critical to the elections, but instead, it even issued a ‘gag’ order on Smartmatic which subsequently refused to cooperate with our investigative agencies,” he added.
Sotto, meanwhile, expressed hopes that the new Comelec chairman and commissioners would ensure a “more transparent and proactive” stance in the conduct of this year’s polls.
“We are happy that this hearing has finally brought to light what we have been asking from Comelec and the various investigative agencies for the past several hearings. Sadly, this information had been with these agencies since January and despite several attempts to obtain them, all we have been given was a runaround,” he said.
“Too much responsibility has been placed on a single commissioner to basically handle almost all the critical aspects of this election. Perhaps it is time to disperse the responsibility more equitably among the other commissioners in order to have some form of checks and balance,” he added.
Sotto further strongly recommended that the Comelec adopt “increased transparency and vote security measures” as recommended by our various information technology experts, election watchdogs, and other automated election system stakeholders.
“These recommendations have been submitted and have been pending and unacted upon for several months already. It is of vital importance that this national election be truly safeguarded and the public is assured that the true will of the people is protected,” he said.
“Hindi tayo papayag na mabalewala ang ating mga boto dahil sa kapabayaan. At lalong hindi natin papayagan na babuyin ng sinuman ang ating karapatang pumili ng nararapat na mga lider ng ating bansa,” he added.