MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced yesterday that the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines was ready and could be made available to parties to determine if it has been tampered with.
“The source code will be ready today (Friday),” Comelec executive director Jose Tolentino said during the Joint Congressional Oversight on Automated Election System at the Senate.
The source code is a set of numbers, letters and symbols defining what a computer should do.
Various organizations have been asking for the source code to be made public before the elections to determine if the PCOS machines have been tampered with.
Tolentino said SysTest Labs, an international certification entity hired by the Comelec to build the source code, had started on the Trusted Build on Tuesday and this would be converted to binary or instructions for the machine. He said the process was expected to be completed yesterday.
The Trusted Build is “a chain of evidence from the technical data package and source code to the actual computer programs that are being evaluated for certification. The chain of evidence must be sufficient to provide assurance that the system was built as described in the technical data package, the reviewed and approved source code was actually used in building the system, and that no other elements, not included in the technical data package, were introduced in the system.”
Tolentino said they could issue modules of the hash codes to parties so they would know that the instructions installed in the PCOS and the canvassing system “is one and same as those that were built by Systest Labs and which would be deposited with the Central Bank in escrow.”
Tolentino said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas would be ready with the vault after the Monetary Board had approved its use to ensure that the source code would be protected.
“There are two options - either SysTest Labs delivers the source code to the chair who will keep it until Tuesday, or SysTest would hold on to it, anyway it was the one who built it, and the parties already have the hash codes and on Tuesday we will formally turn over the source code to the Central Bank,” Tolentino said, adding that the source code will be encrypted before being turned over to Central Bank.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said they would have to wait for the Monetary Board resolution before turning over the source code to the BSP.
Melo said due to the sensitivity and the importance of the source code, the Comelec could not afford to hold on to it until next week.
The Comelec earlier said it would allow the public, including concerned political parties
and candidates, to view the contents of the source code before depositing it with the BSP.
AFP and PNP will play crucial roles
Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile underscored anew the critical roles of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in case of a failure of elections this May.
Advocates of clean and transparent elections are saying that it would be dangerous to assume that the whole automated process would be fraud-free because there have been apparent weaknesses in the Comelec’s poll automation system.
Enrile noted that under the Constitution, the military and police are the protectors of the people and they are mandated by law to take over the government until the rightful president is appointed.
“I hope that it will never happen. At that point, even I, assuming that I still exist then, if there is a failure of election, I don’t dream that I will be respected and obeyed by the military and the police,” Enrile added.
A veteran lawmaker and politician, Enrile noted the flaw in the Constitution in terms of the provision on succession. “This defect is embedded in the Constitution. Had they maintained the old system, where two-thirds of the Senate remain, in other words sixteen senators must be there all the time, then there’s no question about it,” the Senate President said.
Enrile noted that with 16 senators at the helm of the Senate, they have a quorum where they can organize a government for the country.
Vigilance is needed
Kontra Daya, a broad anti-fraud coalition, said educating the public on how to vote under the new system would not be enough because Comelec should ascertain that it could address the problems in the scheme efficiently.
“Previous field tests have shown the vulnerabilities of the automated system. We have yet to see a test that has proceeded smoothly without any glitches. Because there are weaknesses in the system, there is always the possibility of fraud, or even worse, a failure of elections,” said Fr. Joe Dizon, one of the conveners of Kontra Daya.
The Comelec is set to carry out today mock elections in different locations in the country, including Quezon City, Taguig, Baguio, Cebu, and Davao.
This is said to be the first mock elections which the Comelec will initiate, less than 100 days before the May 10 polls.
In Quezon City, the mock elections would be done at the New Era Elementary School in Tandang Sora; in Taguig, it would be done at the Maharlika Elementary School.
Kontra Daya said it will deploy field monitors for the nationwide mock elections to observe the implementation of the automated election system and to gauge the preparedness of the Comelec for the May 10 elections. – With Christina Mendez, Katherine Adraneda
By Aurea Calica
(The Philippine Star)
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