PPCRV urges public to continue to trust Comelec, Smartmatic amid alleged breach

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on Sunday called on the public to continue to trust the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and poll technology provider Smartmatic, reiterating that the alleged breach has nothing to do with the upcoming Eleksyon 2022.

In an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, PPCRV national trustee and director for voters education and volunteers mobilization Dr. Arwin Serrano said that there really are people who would want to cause confusion and try to stop the elections, but the important thing is to continue doing other important election-related tasks instead of getting diverted.

“Dapat pa rin tayong magtiwala kasi kung tayo’y patuloy na hindi na tayo magkakaroon ng tiwala dito sa Comelec at dito sa Smartmatic, ano pa ang saysay ng ating ginagawang paghahanda? Ano pa ‘yung pagbibigay natin ng kahalagahan sa ating nalalapit na halalan?” he said.

(We must still trust the Comelec and Smartmatic because if we don’t, then what is the point of our preparations? What else are we giving importance to in our upcoming elections?)

He then reiterated that the data breach issue was brought about by a former employee of Smartmatic and only involved the personal files of some Comelec officials and their personal engagement activities with Smartmatic.

“Walang kinalaman ‘yun. Hindi tayo namimiligro. Patuloy pa rin tayong focused sa doong ating ginagawang paghahanda at habang tinatapos ang imbestigasyon na ‘yan, patuloy rin nating alamin kung ano ‘yung magiging final na resulta ng NBI. Naniniwala ang inyong lingkod na patuloy nating pagkatiwalaan ang ating automated elections system sa darating na May 9, 2022 elections,” he added.

(It has nothing to do with it. We are not at risk. We are still focused on what we are preparing for and as the investigation continues, we will also find out what the final result of the NBI will be. I believe that we should continue to trust our automated elections system in the coming May 9, 2022 elections.)

Senator Imee Marcos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, claimed that a data breach occurred and that data regarding Smartmatic, including personal information, ledgers, photos of their office, contact persons in the Comelec, might have been hacked by a syndicate group.

Asked if he believes that elections will be clean and fair, Serrano said, “Yes, naniniwala ako at naniniwala kami na magkakaraon tayo ng malinis [na eleksyon] at patuloy natin ‘yang hinihiling sa taong bayan na isama natin ito sa ating panalangin na magkaroon tayo ng malinis, tumpak, makabuluhan, at mapayapang halalan.”

(Yes, I and all of us here believe that we will have clean elections and we continue to ask the people to include it in our prayers that we will have clean, accurate, meaningful, and peaceful elections.)

Another poll watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) also said on Saturday that the public need not worry about the supposed data breach as the details on the extent of the possible "infringement" have not yet been sorted out.

In January, the Comelec assured the public that election data for the 2022 polls were not hacked, disputing a report by the Manila Bulletin that poll data — network diagrams, IP addresses, list of all privileged users, domain admin credentials, among others — were hacked. —KG, GMA News