Thursday, October 5, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Special Pages
    • Pets
    • Tech
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • On the Road
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Cravings
    • Environment & Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News Headlines

‘NBC off-limits to Smartmatic’

Sara Susanne D. FabunanbySara Susanne D. Fabunan
May 15, 2016, 12:01 am
in Headlines
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

AFTER it learned that its technology supplier Smartmatic-TIM tampered with its  transparency server without authorization, the Commission on Elections ordered its automated election system provider to stay away from the canvassing and consolidation system.

Comelec Commissioner Robert Lim wrote Smartmatic general manager Elie Moreno to stress that only the National Board of Canvassers, which will count the votes for senators and party-list congressmen, should have control over the CCS at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

“As a precautionary measure in the midst of numerous concerns and speculations as to the integrity of the [CCS] being used for the 2016 National and Local Elections, please be reminded that the [NBC] has sole and absolute control over the CCS workstation located at the [PICC],” the letter read.

Official count. Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista and Commissioner Arthur Lim preside over the National Board of Canvassers which is conducting the official count of the May 9 elections at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. On Saturday, the NBC had received 90,594, or 96.62 percent, of the total 93,754 election returns. EY ACASIO

“Henceforth, access to the same shall be subject to strict protocols. Your personnel shall not be allowed access to the same unless with specific prior authority from the NBC or the Project Monitoring Office,” Lim said.

“In any case, access to the same shall always be under the direct supervision of a duly designated Comelec personnel,” Lim told Moreno.

Lim also said Smartmatic has to secure his consent before examining any other equipment or system.

“Finally, in the spirit of utmost transparency follow the protocol of announcing any action to all parties present before undertaking the same,” he added.

Lim wrote the letter after Commissioner Rowena Guanzon scored Smartmatic for altering or inserting a script in the transparency server that is the source of the partial and unofficial election results that are being reported in media.

While Smartmatic project director Marlon Garcia admitted they inserted a script in the transparency server without the authorization of the Comelec, but insisted that the alteration was only “minor” and “cosmetic.”

“There was no results changed, okay? It’s very important to keep that in mind. Only the ‘ñ’ replacing the ‘?’ All the votes for Candidate A were still there, all the votes for Candidate B, everything remained the same,” he said.

“There may have been no damage in terms of alteration of the results, but there is certainly some effects because now people are anxious,” said Guanzon, who demanded that the poll agency conduct a formal investigation of the incident to identify the possible liabilities of Smartmatic.

“They should not have touched that program without our prior knowledge and our official consent… It’s our property, its not their property,” she added. 

“This was unauthorized. That initiative to change a ‘minor’ thing did not come from the Comelec, it came from them,” Guanzon said.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Guanzon said Smartmatic may even be banned from participating in future elections in the country, especially after an earlier problem over the malfunction of at least 2,363 vote counting machines (VCMs) that the Comelec leased from the company.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Guia had earleir said the poll body is reviewing its terms of reference with Smartmatic, which supplied 92,509 VCMs for the elections, so the government would not have to pay for the VCMs that malfunctioned since they were not used.

There have already been moves in Congress, like the proposal of Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, seeking a House of Representatives probe on the issue of the malfunctioning of the VCMs even before the script alteration controversy arose.

In the Senate, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Poll Automation, also asked the Comelec to withhold the unpaid balance for the lease of the 98,000 vote counting machines supplied by Smartmatic.

Nonetheless, Smartmatic issued a statement saying the Philippines can be proud that it holds the record for having the largest manufacturing and deployment of VCMs not only in Asia but in the whole world.

“I can’t tell you how proud and fulfilled I feel now knowing that I’ve been part of such an amazing and historic accomplishment,” Garcia said in an internal memo to all its employees and technicians.

Garcia said the Philippines can now call itself a leader in automated elections because it configured almost 100,000 VCMs in just a month, recruited 45,000 field technicians in less than three months, deployed the biggest BGAN in the world, set up a call center with more than 700 operators in one month, set up a private election network and three data centers in only one month.

Garcia also noted Smartmatic also supervised the printing of 56,000,000 ballots in just 49 days.

But lawyer Harry Roque, who has been a critic of Smartmatic since 2009, welcomed Guanzon’s insistence on a probe.

“Smartmatic must be investigated and held liable for the unauthorized and patently illegal change in the server script,” said Harry Roque, who said the Comelec’s credibility has been put in question despite an otherwise orderly election.

Roque, who is a professor of law at the University of the Philippines, said that the change the Smartmatic introduced was cosmetic is not the crux of the matter.

“The point is that the script was changed, and without authorization at that. If Smartmatic was able to freely change the script without Comelec’s prior approval, any result can now be changed by them. If one character can be changed, so can others,” he said.

He said Smartmatic made a serious security breach, one that should not have been allowed and one that they should be held liable for.

Meanwhile, computer experts slammed the modification of the hash code in Comelec’s election transparency server as this has cast doubts on the integrity of the election results and could even be tantamount to electoral sabotage.

 Toti Casino, board member of the Philippine Computer Society, agreed with Roque and said the matter should be probed further to restore public confidence in the electoral system.

“All of this are manifestations that there is a high vulnerability to fraud within the source code or within the election system, which now needs to be secured and subject to investigation,” Casino said.

Vito Barcelo

Tags: Commission on ElectionsNational Board of CanvassersSmartmaticSmartmatic-TIM tampered
ADVERTISEMENT
Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Related Posts

Simply the best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83

byAFP
May 25, 2023, 5:40 am
0
9
Simply the best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83

Rock legend Tina Turner, the growling songstress who electrified audiences for decades, has died at the age of 83, a statement...

Read more

Butler fuels Heat in 123-116 game 1 win over Celtics

byAFP
May 18, 2023, 12:57 pm
0
10
Butler fuels Heat in 123-116 game 1 win over Celtics

Jimmy Butler's 35 points and a scorching third quarter propelled the eighth-seeded Miami Heat to a 123-116 victory over the...

Read more

Paolo Duterte quits as Davao vice mayor

byF. Pearl A. Gajunera
December 26, 2017, 12:15 am
0
9
Paolo Duterte quits as Davao vice mayor

DAVAO CITY—The President’s son, Paolo Duterte, resigned Monday as vice mayor of Davao City after a series of scandals hounded...

Read more

36 bodies retrieved in mall fire; govt probe set

byRey E. Requejo
December 26, 2017, 12:14 am
0
8

DAVAO CITY—The Justice Department ordered a criminal investigation Monday into a shopping mall fire that killed 37 people, including call...

Read more

China: Islands ‘reasonably’ expanded

byJohn Paolo Bencito
December 26, 2017, 12:12 am
0
8

CHINA admitted expanding its islands in the disputed South China Sea, with continued construction in the challenged islands covering about...

Read more

28 killed in two road accidents on xmas

byFrancisco Tuyay
December 26, 2017, 12:10 am
0
8

TWENTY-EIGHT people were killed and dozens more were injured in two separate road accidents in La Union and Cotabato provinces,...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Marcial’s right hook needs a nickname
  • ‘House to address Maharlika issues’
  • Jemboy case: Court wants 6 cops nabbed
  • Gilas beats China in game for ages, sets up finals’ duel with Jordan
  • Gilas stuns host China, 77-76, reaches Asian Games basketball final
  • Signal No. 3 still up over Batanes as ‘Jenny’ exits
  • Crackdown on economic sabotage
  • Rude awakening

Advertisement

Latest News

Signal No. 3 still up over Batanes as ‘Jenny’ exits

byRio N. Araja
October 5, 2023, 12:25 am
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal (TCWS) No. 3 remains hoisted over Itbayat, Batanes as Typhoon “Jenny” moves westward towards southern Taiwan,...

Read more

Crackdown on economic sabotage

byManila Standard
October 5, 2023, 12:20 am
0
8
Crackdown on economic sabotage

Forget that old adage about hitting two birds with one stone, it’s not bird-friendly at all. Let’s just say we’re...

Read more

Rude awakening

byLito Banayo
October 5, 2023, 12:15 am
0
8
A crisis president

"As for Malacanang and its advisers, including its army of uninspired and ineffective trolls, remember that imagery cannot for long...

Read more

Chocolates and dollar bills

byFlorencio Fianza
October 5, 2023, 12:10 am
0
8
Money matters

"How can we entice foreign tourists to come and love the Philippines if our airport personnel steal their money?" Whether...

Read more

Edtech Online Community gives Filipino teachers access to global resources

byManila Standard
October 5, 2023, 12:05 am
0
8
RSA: Mr. Malasakit, the environmentalist

By Harrison Kelly After facing one of the most extended school closures to contain the pandemic, Filipino educators are digitalizing...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
    • Young Life
  • Pets
  • Tech
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Cravings
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App