Smartmatic, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) poll technology provider, should be wary of its employees and vet them carefully, senators on Sunday said.

Sen. Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, made the call after the panel’s discovery that a Smartmatic employee is involved in the alleged security breach in its system.

The said Smartmatic employee is now under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Marcos said her panel will determine if there are other employees involved or who worked alongside the said Smartmatic staff in the supposed infringement of poll data.

“Ito ‘yung mga tinitignan natin kasi kung may isang empleyado, baka meron pang iba. It’s very important na malaman natin kung sino-sino. Baka planted lahat ‘yan eh. Malay natin kung sino gumawa niyan (We are looking at this, because if there is one employee, others may also be involved. It’s very importatn to know who they are. These people may be planted. We don’t know who did that),” Marcos said in an interview over DZRH.

“Itong hamak na (This) contractual employee, labas pasok at ninakaw pa ‘yung mga data nila (got in and out and even stole their data),” she pointed out.

“Ito ‘yung nakakakaba dito na isang contractual employee na apparently halos hindi nila vinet, hindi nila kilala gaano, eh may (This is what makes us nervouse, that one contractual employee who apparently was not vetted, they do not really know has) access sa (to) confidential information,” she added.

Marcos’ brother, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. is gunning for president in the upcoming May 2022 elections.

She earlier claimed that Smartmatic data, including personal information, ledgers, office photos and contact persons inside the poll body might have been hacked by a syndicate.

The Comelec officials in response, denied any security breach and assured the public that election data for the May 2022 elections were not hacked.

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, for his part, said the NBI should tap its cyber experts and software programmers to check if the claim a “source code” was posted on Facebook.

Pimentel, in an interview over Radio DZBB, said Comelec obviously had committed lapses, considering 40 millioin ballots were printed “behind closed doors.”

“Bawal ‘yun. Ang SD Cards, na-configure na, ibig sabihin noon, na-loadan na ang software behind closed doors na wala ring nakatingin. Bawal din po ‘yun. Maraming lapses talaga ang Comelec (That’s not allowed. The SD Cards were already configured, meaning they were loaded with software behind closed doors without anyone looking. That’s also not allowed. Comelec indeed committed many lapses),” Pimentel said.

Marcos said they will focus on the investigation, but will first allow the NBI, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the Department of Information and Communications (DICT) to be at the forefront of the probe.

She admitted they are afraid of the elections being manipulated and none of the members of the Senate want to be victimized by “Smartmagic.”

“Even my brother, Senator (Vicente) Sotto (III), Senator Pimentel do not want to experience that though we have different candidates, but everyone really does not want to be Smartmagicked again,” she said in Filipino.