Palace defers to Comelec on alleged poll data hacking

Malacañang on Tuesday deferred to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the alleged hacking of election data for the 2022 polls.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles was referring to the Manila Bulletin report which claimed that upon its verification, Comelec data — network diagrams, IP addresses, list of all privileged users, domain admin credentials, among others — were hacked.

"We will await any update from Comelec regarding this," Nograles said.

"Nababahala rin kami (We are also alarmed) about this, kung totoo man ito (if this is true)," Nograles added.

The Comelec earlier said that it was still validating the reported hacking, and that it would take action against anyone who would seek to undermine the 2022 elections.

The 2022 polls are set for May 9.

The campaign period for national candidates starts on February 8, while those for local candidates starts on March 8.

The 2022 elections will be the country's fifth straight automated election.

Candidates for the 2022 polls expressed concern over the reported hacking of poll data, saying that the will of the people should not be compromised. — DVM, GMA News