The DICT is set to provide cloud hosting of the Comelec’s online services, which includes the Registration Status Verifier, Precinct Finder, Online Voter Certification Application, and the National and Local Election Results Website.
Agusan del Norte 1st district representative Lawrence Fortun said that if the hacking claim is proven to be false, those who proliferated the allegations should be held accountable for their actions.
In the lead up to the 2022 General Election in the Philippines, Twitter has partnered with the Comelec to amplify voter education initiatives on the policy, product and partnership front to protect the integrity of election-centric conversations on the platform and encourage healthy civic debate.
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.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said while Comelec’s servers may not have been hacked, the poll body should remain on guard against possible unauthorized access to its data as the May polls draw closer.
During a congressional hearing on Friday, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez asked how the Manila Bulletin was able to "verify" the hacking of its servers but the publication was not able to address the query.
In a statement, BHW party-list representative Angelica Natasha Co said the debunked Comelec hacking claim “is an attempt to cast seeds of doubt in the minds of the public on an IT matter that is beyond their understanding.”
Agusan del Norte representative Lawrence Fortun said in a statement that the Manila Bulletin report was apparently erroneous as “[i]t appears now the alleged hacked files do not exist.”
Jose Armando R. Melo, the former chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who presided over the first computerized elections in the country, has died at the age of 88.
