Comelec grants PPCRV request for transparency server’s audit logs

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday granted the request of poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to access the transparency server’s audit logs that could help explain the seven-hour election results transmission glitch on Monday night.

PPCRV chairperson Myla Villanueva said their IT team will be working on the logs over the weekend.

“Our IT team will be going to work over the weekend so we can analyze the logs,” Villanueva told reporters at the PPCRV command center in Manila.

In a separate interview with INQUIRER.net, Villanueva said the audit logs will help provide an explanation to the seven-hour glitch that delayed the arrival of election results to the transparency server on election day.

“Ang logs ay parang historical record yan, kung ano yung ginagawa ng computer at that time, kung ano yung operations niya, at kung ano yung mga incidents na nangyayari sa making,” Villanueva said.

(The logs are like historical records. They document what the computer was doing at that time and what the incidents are that happened.)

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“It’s good for us to know what that is at that night that [the glitch] happened in order for us to explain na makina talaga ang nagka-problema (that the machine is the problem), nothing more and nothing less,” she added.

Villanueva said they will be explaining the situation to the public.

“We will explain to the public in as layman terms as possible para maintindihan din (so they will understand),” Villanueva said.

In an ambush interview on Wednesday, Villanueva said they will ask for a “proper forum” if they observe inconsistencies from the logs, even as the Comelec is transparent in fixing the glitch.

Request for Comelec’s central server data

The PPCRV also requested data from the central server of the Comelec.

Villanueva said the data will be compared with to the data from the transparency server to ensure that both servers have similar results.

While the Comelec has yet to give them proper approval of their request, Villanueva said she is confident that their request will also be granted.

“In fairness to the Comelec, they have been very transparent with us so I want to assure the public that whatever we ask for, binibigay naman,” Villanueva said. (Editor: Eden Estopace, Julie Espinosa)

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