Bongbong camp: Script change in Comelec server illegal, undermines integrity of system

The camp of vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday slammed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the changes in the script in its transparency server while the counting of votes was ongoing, saying it was against the law.

“They (Comelec) are making light of it. Ang sinasabi parang pinalitan lang daw yung ñ. This is not cosmetic change. This is something that needs to be looked into seriously,” Marcos’ campaign adviser ABAKADA party-list Rep. Jonathan Dela Cruz told reporters in a chance interview.

Dela Cruz further said that the change of the script in the transparency server was also in violation of Republic Act 8436 or the Automated Elections Law.

“Under Article 28, Section 29 of RA 8436 any such tampering is prohibited. And this was done already in the middle of transmission of election returns. This is prohibited by law,” Dela Cruz said.

Article 28 Section 29 of RA 8436 prohibits “utilizing without authorization, tampering with, damaging, destroying or stealing [of] official ballots, election returns and certificate of canvass of votes, electronic devices or components, peripherals or supplies used in the automated elections such as counting machines, memory pack, memory pack receiver and computer set”.

In a press conference on Thursday Comelec chairman Andres Bautista admitted that the script of the transparency server was tweaked, but only to correct a character in the name of one candidate.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/566058/news/nation/comelec-confirms-smartmatic-changed-server-script-but-only-to-fix-n-error

Bautista said the change of the script did not affect the tally of the vote results.

Dela Cruz, however, pointed out that if a staff of system operator Smartmatic can change the script that easily, then there's no assurance that the system is tamper-proof.

“No matter what happens, no matter who wins or loses in this particular elections, this particular breach has already damaged the integrity of the entire system,” Dela Cruz said.

“Because as I said, once you break a seal – the script is a seal – then anything can happen after that,” he added.

Dela Cruz said their team is now studying possible legal measures regarding the incident.

He said their camp will also send a letter of request to the Comelec to have allow their IT experts examine the servers.

“We are requesting Comelec to allow our experts to take a look at their network operating system. That is where all the transmission reports and incident reports were logged. It cannot be traced by papers,” Dela Cruz said.

“Kung before there was a manual dagdag bawas, this may be what we can call an electronic dagdag-bawas. If ever may irregularity nga. I don’t know we still need to find out,” he added.

Marcos on Wednesday alleged that a new script introduced to the transparency server altered the hash code of the Comelec’s packet data.

They said Marcos' lead of about a million votes began to erode "at a rather distinctive pattern" after the script was introduced.

Marcos’ closest rival, LP vice presidential bet, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo took the lead past 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

Robredo continued to lead by more or less 200,000 votes as of Thursday night based on the Comelec's partial, unofficial tally. —JST, GMA News