The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has allowed the Walang Iwanan sa Free Internet Inc. (WIFI) to participate in the raffle of Party-list groups to determine the order of their listing on the official ballot in connection with the May 2022 polls on December 10.
"The Commission resolved as it hereby resolves to include Walang Iwanan sa Free Internet Inc. (WIFI) in the party-list groups, organizations, or coalitions allowed to participate in the raffle on 10 December 2021, 10 a.m., considering that it is a party-list registrant with pending incident under Section 1 (B) of Resolution No. 10733," the Comelec said in supplemental Resolution No. 10735.
In the same resolution, the poll body also clarified that the party-list with acronym Abante Midwife, appearing in page 13 under Section 2 of Resolution No. 10735, refers to Abante Midwife Party-list.
The poll body in Resolution No. 10733 said it will conduct the raffle virtually amid the continued threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
"Whereas, the Commission deems it proper to introduce the use of online platforms, and mechanisms in conducting the raffle to ensure the safety of all concerned against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the Comelec said.
The poll body said the raffle shall be held at 10 a.m., at the Commission En Banc Session Hall, 8th Floor Palacio del Gobernador Bldg., Intramuros Manila and simultaneously via Microsoft Teams (MS Teams).
Meanwhile, the turnover of the final local source code and trusted build of the Automated Election System of the 2022 National and Local Elections was held Wednesday.
"This deposit of source code is necessary to ensure that there is a trusted copy of the final trusted build, the trusted copy will not be opened to tampering or any possible alteration by anyone precisely because it is under the vault of the BSP, which is a very important security and transparency measure," Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez explained.
"Now, the source code and the codes held by the ITD both are accompanied by unique hash codes. These are...verifiable hash codes, which will now be published in the Comelec website ...People to check for themselves if the vote counting machines (VCMs) they are using on Election Day are the same, unaltered machines that have been subjected to the final trust build," he added.
"Again, this is also an important safeguard measure as well as the means of ensuring the elections are legitimate and then the machines have not been tampered in any way," said Jimenez.