Hontiveros to Comelec: Ensure smooth 2025 elections

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure a smooth 2025 midterm elections following the delays in ballot printing.

In her privilege speech, Honitiveros raised concern over the repeated adjustments in the "trusted build" of the Election Management System (EMS) due to the removal of some names of senatorial candidates.

“Nakailang final trusted build na po ang COMELEC. Mayroon noong January 13, at noong January 20. Sa puntong ito, Mr. President, kailangan natin itanong: Bakit kailangan ng COMELEC at ng Miru na magsagawa ng paulit-ulit na trusted build bawat beses na may pag-papalit ng kahit isang pangalan lang sa listahan ng kandidato?” Hontiveros said.

(Comelec repeatedly conducted a final trusted build on January 13 and 20. At this point, we have to ask why Comelec and Miru have to conduct trusted build every time the list of candidates changes?)

“This is like having to take out, and reassemble an entire car engine every time we have to replace a single bolt. Every time the COMELEC and Miru rebuild the software, there is a chance that malicious code might be introduced into our automated election systems,” she added.

Hontiveros explained the trusted build turns the source code of the EMS into the software executed by the election hardware during the polls.  A trusted build is performed with several security and verification measures to ensure that nothing malicious was introduced to the source code during the build process, she added.

For this year's elections, she said the Comelec's contract with Miru Systems, the supplier of automated counting machines, reached P18.827 billion, the highest in the country's election history.

"Ang masaklap, kahit record high and gastos ng taumbayan, panay aberya pa rin and preparasyon ng halalan (The bitter part is despite the record high budget, preparation for the 2025 elections was still marred by hitches)," Hontiveros said.

The senator urged Comelec to fix the “gaps and vulnerabilities” in the automated election system.

"I hope that no further trusted builds are needed if more names of candidates have to be added or removed in the system, from now up to May 12. Everything - from the voting counting machines to the paper we will use for ballots - should meet quality standards and work well on election day," Hontiveros said.

Comelec postponed the printing of ballots following the issuance of the Supreme Court of temporary restraining orders against the disqualification of some aspirants.

Garcia said Comelec still targets finishing printing ballots by April 14 in time for the May 12 midterm elections. 

The poll body aimed to print 1.5 million ballots daily to make up for the shortened time frame for the production of official ballots. —LDF, GMA Integrated News

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