MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has directed Smartmatic International, its service provider, to submit a report on the alleged security breach discovered during a recent Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) hearing on the Automated Election System (AES).
Comelec chairperson Saidamen Pangarungan stated that he already ordered Executive Director Bartolome Sinocruz to get the side of the international service provider on the allegations.
“We also directed the Law Department to conduct a review of the contract with Smartmatic and to advise the courses of action to be taken by the Commission as may be provided by law and jurisprudence,” Pangarungan said.
He also instructed Sinocruz to work with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and obtain a copy of its report as soon as it is available.
“I would also like to reiterate that these measures are just a few of the measures that the Comelec has been instituting in performing our mandate in protecting the sanctity of the vote, since my appointment,” Pangarungan said.
Pangarungan further assured the public that the poll body will continue to give security and policies to “uphold our democratic exercise”.
He also directed the establishment of a plan to prevent such occurrences from happening again.
Senator Imee Marcos, chairperson of the JCOC-AES, said last week that the service provider had a security breach after one of its contractual workers allegedly took out an official laptop and leaked its information.
