Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Tuesday, March 4, that they are looking to get an international certification for the Automated Election System (AES) before the end of the month.

"Hopefully bago po matapos ang buwan na ito ay ang certification mula sa Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) (Hopefully, before the end of this month, we will receive the certification from the TEC)," he said in a press conference.

According to Garcia, the TEC is in-charge of obtaining certification from an established international certifying body. He said that the testing of the hardware and software components has already been finished.

In a letter from the Project Management Office for the 2025 National and Local Elections penned by Project Director Ester Villaflor-Roxas, she explained that the 2025 NLE also features an additional automated system, which is the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS) for overseas voting.

She added that there is also an unbundling of the secure Electronic Transmission services with the provider of the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/count.

"These features which aims for better voting experience and transparency necessitated a longer time for certification as we await the certification of the separate components," she said in the letter addressed to the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms.

She also added that as in the previous automated elections, the International Certifying Entity ond TEC have not fully certified the AES for the 2025 Notional ond Local Elections {NLE) within the period prescribed by law.

In the past, Garcia said that in 2022 a TEC certification was secured in May 6; in 2019, they secured a TEC certification in May 3; in 2016, they secured a TEC certification in April 30; in 2013, they secured a TEC Certification in Feb. 13, noting that a source code review was not done prior but after elections; and in 2010, a TEC certification was secured in March 9.

"Tayo po ngayon sa kasalukuyan ay nasa pinakamagandang pwesto dahil nandito pa tayo sa March 4...so wag po mag-alala ang lahat sapagkat yung trusted build ng OVCS ay mangyayari ngayong linggo (We are currently in the best position since it's still March 4... so there's no need for everyone to worry because the trusted build of OVCS will happen this week)," he added.

Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System to investigate the lack of certification.

Hontiveros noted that Comelec reportedly has yet to comply with Sec. 11 of RA 8436 as amended by RA 9369 or the Election Automation Law.

She said the certification should have been issued “not later than three months before the date of the electoral exercises.”

Garcia said that if that is the argument, when looking at the law itself, it is merely a "directory".

"Kasi kung ganun po yung eleksyon natin simula nung 2010 violation po pala lahat yun (Because if that's the case, then all our elections since 2010 have been violations)," he added.