Comelec may be held liable for leaked voter data, poll lawyer says

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) may be held liable for the leakage of supposed voters' data stolen from the database of the poll body and made available online, a longtime election lawyer said on Wednesday.

Atty. Romulo Macalintal on Wednesday said the Comelec was accountable especially if it would be found that the poll body had been negligent in ensuring the security of those confidential information.

"Kung talagang nagpabaya sila sa katungkulan nila, talagang maaari silang managot. They have liability dahil lahat ng public officials, in the performance of their function, dapat pinangangalagaan ang properties ng pamahalaan. And these are properties of the government," the lawyer said.

To stress that the victim card cannot always be used to justify a crime, Macalintal compared the data leakage to the stealing of public funds.

"Hindi puwede sabihin lang na kami na nga ang biktima... Halimbawa, naubos ang pera ng bayan. Oh, ibig sabihin porke naubos ang pera ng bayan, dahil sa naging pabaya sila at sila na agad ang naging biktima ay wala nang mananagot," he said.

"Dito rin, may nagnakaw ng information. Dahil ba sila ang biktima, hindi na sila dapat managot? I don't think so. Kapag may negligence sila, kung talagang may kapabayaan sila, the Comelec must answer," he added.

Macalintal cited the case of the illegal transfer of Bangladeshi funds to a Philippine bank, wherein the head of the Bangladesh central bank resigned from his post after the heist.

“Nag-resign siya kasi alam niya mayroon siyang liability. Dito [sa data leak], dapat pag-aaralan din natin mabuti kung ano ang liability,” he said.

The poll lawyer also opened the possibility of the hacker arrested earlier becoming a state witness, with his testimony being used as evidence to prosecute Comelec personnel who could be liable for the hacking and leakage.

“I hope may nakuha tayong information sa hacker. Paano na-hack, diba? If the hacker would say, kaya namin na-hack kasi napakahina ng ginawa ng Comelec, perhaps the hacker could be our state witness,” Macalintal said. —NB, GMA News