Fired Smartmatic employee submitted names of persons involved in alleged data breach - Sotto

CEBU CITY— Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Saturday that the former Smartmatic employee implicated in the alleged security breach has already given the names of people allegedly involved in the incident.

“The welcome development is that the [National Bureau of Investigation] has investigated him already. He has given names, dates and places, he has a sworn affidavit already. That's the important thing,” Sotto said when asked about the data breach issue.

Sotto previously said that the NBI had custody of the former Smartmatic employee.

As the NBI continues its investigation into the incident, Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said on Friday that the data leak is unrelated to the 2022 national and local elections. 

"What was leaked [was] data concerning their internal organization and activities,” he said at a press conference, adding that, from his understanding, the Smartmatic employee had been dismissed.

The Comelec chief also assured that "we will not allow anyone to undermine the people's confidence in our electoral system."

On March 24, the Comelec said it would review its contract with Smartmatic after the reported security breach in the system of the service provider for the May 9 elections. — VBL, GMA News