Calls for deeper auto polls probe build up

COMELEC, SMARTMATIC NOT OFF THE HOOK YET

Just when the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its supplier Smartmatic were about to breathe in relief after exhaustive probes into the conduct of the automated polls last May 10, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. sought the continued impounding of the 60 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines at the Senate while poll watchdog-Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) asked the poll body to make public several documents which it will use for its planned independent study of the recently concluded automated elections.

In a statement, CenPEG said there is a need for a full disclosure in the documents related to the implementation of the first-ever nationwide automated polls before an unprejudiced assessment can be made.

Pimentel also urged the Comelec to authorize the disclosure of the source codes to allow the scrutiny of neutral information technology experts from the Philippine Computer Society (PCS), as requested by Congress.

Pimentel made the appeal in reaction to a statement of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that the voting machines that were placed under Senate custody should be transferred back to the Comelec.

“An objective study can only be done if pertinent data and information, relevant to the study at hand, shall be accessible and available to researchers and scholars, so that a no-nonsense body of knowledge can be developed in the interest of public service and good governance,” CenPEG said.

CenPEG said these documents inculde the SysTest full report; source code waltkthrough plan; source code of PCOS program; source code of the CCS programs; file formats of all data files used or produced by the PCOS program; file formats of all data files used or produced by the CCS program; public keys used by all the PCOS computers; public keys used by all the CCS computers; user manual of the PCOS program; user manual of the CCS program; and the Smartmatic-Comelec contract with the complete annexes.

At the same time, CenPEG also demanded that documents detailing the finance and budget plan of the AES-Smartmatic; copy of the Smartmatic Voters’ Education contract; contract between Smartmatic and the Dominion Voting Systems; contract on transmission and deployment plan of the transmission facilities; report on the PCOS transmission on May 10 and thereafter; report on the customization; old ballot faces (national and local) matching the faulty CF cards; new ballot faces (national and local) actually used for the May 10 elections; report on the training of BEIs and technicians; inventory of compact flash cards used in the final testing and sealing; and the re-configured CF cards for May 10.

“Various stakeholders (need) to help find answers to many questions that affect the credibility of the elections, especially with regard to some unusual incidences occurring with the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines of the Smartmatic-propelled automated system,” added CenPEG.

Earlier, the Comelec announced its plans to tap foreign experts to perform and evaluate the first nationwide automated polls in the country.

Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez had said that the introduction of the new system made it necessary for the election system to be evaluated.

Jimenez explained that they want independent foreign experts to carry out the assessment and evaluation of the May 10 polls computerized elections since they wanted it to be free from any malice as well as to show that its credible.

“I would suggest to the Senate president to hang on to the PCOS machines under examination and to act on the requirement of allowing the source codes that are kept in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) be made available,” Pimentel said.

The PCOS machines were found being kept inside the residence of a technician of Smartmatic, contractor of the poll automation project, in Antipolo City shortly after the May 10 elections.

Unless the forensic examination is completed, allegations that the PCOS machines were used for illegal transmission of election results to favor certain candidates will not be resolved, the senator said.

Pimentel said if the Comelec officials concerned will not cooperate with Congress, especially by refusing to provide the source codes, “they would be complicit in sabotaging the will of the people.”

“Perhaps the Comelec in general is hesitant to produce the evidence against the wrongdoing of its own people. Probably, that is keeping them from performing what they should do, in this particular instance, the release of the sources codes so that the PCOS machines can be examined forensically,” he said.

Pimentel said that although six of the impounded voting machines were opened in the presence of representatives of the PCS, Comelec and Smartmatic, no actual examination was done due to the absence of the source codes.

However, he was informed that the initial examination of the machines showed that their “hash codes” did not match with the hash codes as listed in the records of Comelec.

Pimentel also urged the Comelec and Smartmatic to comply with the directive of Congress for a full inventory of all PCOS machines and compact flash or memory cards that were used in the elections.

He said the PCOS machines and CF cards must be preserved because they are needed by the Comelec in resolving protests by losing candidates who claim that the cards had been pre-programmed to manipulate the results.

One of the complainants, Quezon City Congresswoman Annie Susano came in possession of samples of the allegedly tampered CF cards. Pimentel said Susano shared with him the contents of one CF card that was presumably taken from one of the PCOS machines used in the elections in the city.

“When the CF card was opened by the use of a privately-owned computer, it disclosed that of the seven sensors in the PCOS machine from which the card was taken, four were put on and off at certain intervals and three were permanently switched off,” he said.

The sensors are a device that read the contents of the ballots when they are processed b the PCOS machine.

“One does not have to be an IT expert to understand that a reading of the sensor settings of the CF card readily shows that something was basically wrong with that particular PCOS machine. The switching of sensors on-and-off meant that some voters were counted some of the time, while others were not counted most of the time,” Pimentel said.

He said it does not speak well of all the PCOS machines that were used throughout the country.

“Nonetheless, if one of the PCOS machines did go wrong or was programmed to read some votes in some of the columns of the candidates and not read in others at certain times, there is ground for alarm that all was not well with the automate election system that was used in the May elections,” Pimentel said.

A Catholic bishop, meanwhile, joined calls for the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to form an independent body to assess the just-concluded automated elections.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo along with other conveners of the Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) made the appeal in a letter sent to the House committee.

“The panel (should) be constituted with competent individuals of established probity and mandated with proper and adequate support to conduct a thorough review and evaluation of the technical, procedural, and other aspects of the automated election system used in May 2010,” part of the letter read.

Aside from Bishop Pabillo, AESWatch’s letter was signed by conveners Alfredo Pascual, president of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association; CenPEG vice-chair Dr. Temario Rivera; and Dr. Rachel Roxas, dean of the De La Salle University College of Computer Studies.

Pabillo chairs the National Secretariat for Social Action- Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

AES Watch expressed concern over the “many technical and procedural glitches which tend to put into question the overall validity of COMELEC’s claim” that its system worked “perfectly” “and that the poll automation glitches were due mostly to human intervention resulting in procedural errors.”

The broad, multi-sectoral poll watchdog said the May 10 voter turnout is way below Comelec’s forecast of 85 percent, and “could be the lowest” compared with previous presidential elections.

The group added the technical and procedural problems resulted in long queues and inconveniences that discouraged many voters from voting.

“The magnitude of voter disenfranchisement could be bigger if the significant number of rejected ballots is considered,” it said.

It asserted that the important question to answer is “if and how the AES enhanced the exercise of voters’ rights and whether it provided fair, transparent, and credible elections.”

“Prudence,” the AES Watch signatories said, “dictates that the AES and its management be looked into to determine the accuracy and integrity of the election results.”

Weeks before the elections, AESWatch rated Comelec preparations for the May 10 polls as being “deep into the danger zone” given the absence of minimum internal safeguards and the imperfect certification of the AES operation issued by the Comelec’s Technical Evaluation Committee.

“An appraisal of the recent automated elections is also needed in aid of whatever legislative action shall be taken to review RA 9369 (amended Automated Elections Law) and other election-related laws”; and to “resolve tensions between opposing views, achieve closure on various issues and questions, pinpoint accountabilities for lapses and misdeeds, and learn lessons that can inform the use of automated systems in future elections,” said AESWatch. –Marie A. Surbano and Angie M. Rosales, Daily Tribune