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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider 'Clear and simple': Comelec says system 'never hacked'

'Clear and simple': Comelec says system 'never hacked'

Published Mar 17, 2022 04:32 pm

"The Comelec system was not hacked. Clear and simple."

Comelec/MANILA BULLETIN file photo

These were the words of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Irwin Garcia on Thursday, March 17 regarding the alleged hacking of the poll body's system in time for the upcoming May 2022 elections.

He made the statement following the claims of several lawmakers the same day after an executive session with the Comelec, Smartmatic, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Department of Information and Technology (DICT) Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) on the Automated Election System said that the media “was right” in its report of the alleged hacking.

Manila Bulletin reported in January that sensitive voter information may have been compromised after a group of hackers was allegedly able to breach the servers of the Comelec.

"We cannot honestly tell you eye to eye comelec was never hacked," Garcia told reporters.

Marcos stated that the potential for a very serious breach is now there. She found it "rather alarming" as it appears that Smartmatic's contractual employees have access to very confidential data, locations and other facilities. A Smartmatic employee was also said to have managed to take home his or her laptop and allowed a “certain group” to copy their data.

"Dun sa issue na yan na sinasabi ni Senator Imee Marcos yun nga yung gusto namin malaman. Kaya kanina nakatingin lahat kami sa NBI kasi sana may ganun na sana yung NBI na report (On that issue that Senator Imee Marcos pointed out, that's what we would have wanted to know. That's why we were looking at NBI because they could have presented that kind of report)," Garcia said.

"Kasi maganda kung may dala siyang report, malalaman natin may nangyari ba talagang ganun? Sino ang culprit? Ito ba ay crime? May kriminal ba dito? Ito ba ay may violation ng batas natin? May mapapakulong ba tayo dito? (It's better if they brought a report, we would if something like that actually happened? Who's the culprit? Was this a crime? Is there a criminal? Is this a violation of our laws? Can we indict someone?)" he added.

Garcia mentioned that they would have to review all of their contracts, and their agreements with Smartmatic in connection to data sharing.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez on the other hand stated that as far as the relationship of Smartmatic with Comelec is concerned, the poll body is fully in-charge of the elections and that they are confident that even in this particular case no hacking occurred and that the alleged hacking has no impact in the election results for 2022.

Related Tags

comelec hacking 2022 elections 2022 presidential elections 2022 polls Comelec 2022 national and local polls Commission on Elections (Comelec) 2022 NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS Commission on Elections
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