The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will look into a petition seeking for manual vote counting in Bacolod City, which has raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest involving the service provider for this year’s online voting.
The Comelec’s move was made after former Bacolod mayor Evelio Leonardia, running for a congressional seat, questioned before the Comelec the alleged conflict-of-interest involving SMS Global Technologies Incorporated (SMS).
In a petition, Leonardia mentioned that corporate records indicate SMS is the owner of Highdata Infra Corporation, a company that bagged a P2.1-billion public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with Bacolod’s city government to create e-governance systems and a centralized command center.
Leonardia’s camp expressed concern about the link, warning that the tech company’s role in both the voting system and a significant city project might jeopardize the fairness of the election in Bacolod.
However, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said the vote counting machines are not connected to the internet during the voting.
The USB modem will only be inserted into the machine for transmission of results after the election returns are printed, Garcia said.
He also said the machines use a private internet connection, not a public one.
“The integrity of our electoral process is fundamental to democracy; undermining it erodes public trust. We have extended invitations to international observers to ensure transparency in our electoral commission, particularly if there are concerns regarding potential misconduct,” Garcia said.