Top officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) told a House committee hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 2, that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has already ruled out any breach of its servers, contrary to a report of the Manila Bulletin.
Photo from the House of Representatives
Comelec commissioner Marlon Casquejo said the NBI conducted a thorough investigation of the poll body’s server in Sta. Rosa, Laguna but found no traces of data leakage.
“Walang violation, walang breach,” Casquejo said, adding that its other servers were not compromised as its physical security are intact and heavily fortified.
Casquejo said the Comelec’s steering committee also conducted an internal investigation but did not find any type of cyber-attack or hacking because the data mentioned in the Manila Bulletin report are yet online.
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez, who also attended the virtual hearing, corroborated Casquejo’s statements.
Last week, the two Comelec officials made the same declaration during the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System (JCOC-AES).
Comelec executive director Bartolome Sinocruz, Jr. said the poll agency has also deposited in escrow with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas the source codes that would be used for the 2022 elections.
Under Republic Act 9369 or “The Election Automation Law,” the Comelec is mandated to deposit the AES source codes with the BSP for safekeeping to ensure free and credible elections.
The source codes are kept in a vault within the BSP premises and secured by a series of metal locks and combination codes. Access to the vault is granted to three Comelec authorized representatives who have been entrusted with the custody of the keys and/or vault combination to act jointly in withdrawing the escrow properties from the BSP.
The source codes for the 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 elections were also deposited in BSP’s vault.
