The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Friday, Jan. 27 that the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) has certified the Automated Election System (AES) to be used for the Special Elections for the Member, House of Representatives in the 7th Legislative District of the Province of Cavite on Feb. 25, 2023.
According to the statement sent by Comelec spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, TEC Resolution No. 2002-002 certifies that the AES to be used for the upcoming special elections is operating "properly, securely, and accurately."
It further stated that it no longer found it necessary to require a separate set of documents and results, "aside from the COMELEC Certification that the source code reviewed is one and the same as that used by the equipment, to support the Certification for the 25 February 2023 Special Election considering that the AES is the same as what was used for the 2022 NLE."
The Certification was issued pursuant to Section 9 of Republic Act No. 9369, which mandates the TEC to certify "through an established international certification entity to be chosen by the Commission from the recommendation of the Advisory Council, not later than three months before the date of the electoral exercises, categorically stating that the AES, including its hardware and software components, is operating properly, securely, and accurately..."
Particularly, the TEC validated that the application hashes for the Election Management System (EMS), Vote-Counting Machine (VCM) application hash, and Consolidation/Canvassing System (CCS) of the AES components for both the 2022 NLE and the 2025 Cavite 7th District Special Elections are the same.
For the said Special Elections, Comelec will make use of the same AES that was used for the May 2022 National and Local Elections.
Pursuant to Comelec Resolution No. 10848, the poll body will be conducting a special election after the HOR passed a resolution declaring a vacancy in the 7th District of Cavite after Jesus Crispin Remulla assumed as Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Among the candidates is Remulla's son, Crispin Diego Diaz Remulla who will be running under the National Unity Party. Three others are Jose Angelito Domingo Aguinaldo, Melencio Loyola De Sagun, Jr., and Michael Angelo Bautista Santos who are all independent. a