Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III on Monday, January 17 rejected a proposed Senate probe into alleged hacking at the Commission on Elections (Comelec),saying this is just a waste of time.
In a related development, presidential aspirant Senator Panfilo M. Lacson said it is best to respect a Comelec ruling junking a petition seeking to cancel the certificate of candidacy (COC) of presidential aspirant Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., a former senator and brother of Senator Imee Marcos.
"Sayang lang oras unless mahuhuli nila yun hacker daw at present nya na hack nya..And where would that lead to? Na bawal ang hacking? Matagal na (It will just be a waste of time unless the hacker is caught and he presents what he has hacked),’’ Sotto said in his Viber account when asked whether there is a need for a Senate inquiry.
‘’Precisely the same report i received from my JCOC (Joint Congressional Oversight Comm) representative monitoring the Source Code review,’’ he added.
Sotto was reacting to a statement of Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon that the alleged hacking at Comelec is a ‘fake news’.
Yesterday, Senator Imee Marcos, chairwoman of the Senate Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation committee, called on Congress to convene the JCOC at the soonest time possible to discuss mechanisms on how to prevent a failure of elections from happening in the upcoming May 2022 elections.
Last week, Marcos filed a resolution asking the Senate to investigate allegations of hacking and security breach in the Comelec cybersecurity system despite the poll body’s denial.
On the Comelec ruling favoring former Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Lacson said that ’’it is best that we respect the ruling.’’
‘’The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has the mandate to decide on any case that falls under its jurisdiction and the petition to disqualify ex-Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is one such case,’’ he explained.
‘’That said, there are venues provided by our electoral system to ensure fairness for all concerned, and we should respect them as well,’’ he added.