Senate President Vicente Sotto III. Senate PRIB file photo / Bibo Nueva España
MANILA, Philippines — Vice presidential candidate Senate President Vicente Sotto III is seeking a congressional inquiry into security concerns over a feared transmission of votes from “untraceable” sources.
Such concerns came from the Senate’s information technology (IT) expert and lawyer Ivan Uy, Sotto told reporters in a press conference in Rizal on Friday.
Sotto said he has already sought an explanation from Comelec Commissioner George Garcia.
He has also called Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of the Senate electoral reforms and people’s participation committee, to ask her to immediately conduct an inquiry on the matter. Marcos’ brother, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is running for president in the 2022 polls.
“She said she will wait for DICT (Department of Information and Communications) response then call a hearing,” Sotto told INQUIRER.net in a text message when asked about Marcos’ response to his proposed hearing.
He said he suggested that Marcos conduct the inquiry on April 28 after the Senate Committee of the Whole’s agricultural smuggling investigation, which is being led by Sotto.
Garcia, for his part, told INQUIRER.net that the poll body is still awaiting the explanation of its IT department regarding the matter.
In raising Uy’s concerns regarding the vote transmission, Sotto, during Friday’s press conference, said: “I was just informed by the IT representative of the Senate in the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee that Comelec has given Smartmatic the award for the transmission of votes and they have changed the protocols. From 3G to 4G.”
Uy also represented the Senate during the Comelec’s source code review, according to the senator.
“Ngayon na binago ng Smartmatic ang protocols biglang pag-review ngayon ng aming IT experts hindi mababasa kung saan galing ang mga VCMs na magta-transmit, that’s the situation,” Sotto said.
(With the change of protocols, when our IT experts reviewed it, they could not track the source of the VCMs transmitting the votes, that’s the situation.)
Sotto said Uy was “really worried” that with the “upgrade” from 3G to 4G, the source of the transmitted vote will no longer be traceable.
“It looks like because of the upgrading, we cannot track which VCM the transmission will be coming from,” he added.
The senator noted that in previous elections, when VCMs transmit votes to the municipal, provincial or national level, the location of the VCM can be traced.
“Atty. Ivan Uy is really worried because ang ibig sabihin niyan aside from the VCMs from the different precincts, pwedeng biglang may ibang VCM na pumasok na mag-transmit sa national level galing sa kung saan… The transparency was left behind when the technology was improved or upgraded. Paano ngayon ito hindi mo mate-trace ngayon ang VCM kung saan galing. Eh kung sa impyerno galing ang VCM?” Sotto said.
(Atty. Ivan Uy is really worried because that would mean that aside from the VCMs from the different precincts, other VCMs coming from wherever may transmit votes… The transparency was set aside when the technology was improved or upgraded. How can we trace the VCM that transmitted the vote? What if the VCM came from hell?)
“According to Atty. Ivan Uy when he brought up the issue with Comelec. Comelec said it would consult DICT (Department of Information and Communications) about it. So my issue is that I think we have to be transparent on this particular issue, ano. Smartmatic, Comelec, we have to look at this very very closely. It’s very dangerous,” the Senate president added.
INQUIRER.net has reached out to Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez for the poll body’s side on the concerns raised by Sotto but has yet to receive a response as of writing.
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