We are reposting COMELEC-SMARTMATIC/TIM contract. It took us about 5 hours to download this document from the COMELEC website.
Scanning the contract, i found nothing clear about releasing the source code of the system.
COMELEC really wants us to _just_trust_ the machines.
We should be ready to monitor frauds and errors this election.
“The recent development in the COMELEC’s pursuit for an Automated Elections System (AES) has set the cue for yet another Garci,” said Mr.
"COMELEC should not leave the 2010 Automated Elections in the hands of foreign control," said Mr.
"Smartmatic-TIM has proven nothing yet," reacted Mr. Rick Bahague, national coordinator of the Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) with regards to the proud winning bidder of the COMELEC's Automated Elections System (AES), Smartmatic International and Total Information Management Corp. (Smartmatic-TIM). "At this point, they are already the best tool of potential Garcis for fraud and cheating on the 2010 elections."
"The bidding process was just a test of hardware functions," explains Mr. Bahague. AES has hardware, software and other needs in order to be implemented. CPU has dared COMELEC to require the winning bidder to reveal their AES's source code to the public.
“The initial result of CPU’s investigation in the bidding process of COMELEC revealed that the COMELEC is dealing with questionable and unreliable vendors,” declares Rick Bahague, the National Coordinator of the Computer Professionals’ Union(CPU). “The COMELEC is even more subjected to a triple degree of difficulty to win the trust of Filipino people especially on its effort to automate the national election in 2010,” adds Bahague.
“A scientifically rigorous analysis and not just a hacking or cracking contest should be done on the Automated Election System (AES),” said Rick Bahague, the National Coordinator of the Computer Profe
Press Release, 7 April 2009
“Cheating and fraud in the 2010 election will be swift and simple for the likes of Garci through the automated election system (AES) the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is striving to implement”, asserts the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU). In 2010, Garci will return and will be more sophisticated in his cheating schemes with his expertise in computer technology. Garci will operate far better than the fraud he performed last 2004 national election. This will give him and his cohorts more reason to “lol—that is, laugh out loud”.
Press Release, 2 April 2009
“If not done properly, automated large scale cheating can happen with the COMELEC's plan for automated elections,” warns the Computer Professionals' Union (CPU) on the current rush of COMELEC to implement an Automated Election System (AES). The first automation attempt was scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2004 when COMELEC's P1.7 billion contract with Mega Pacific Consortium was declared null and void due to irregularities. Under R.A. 9369 which mandates the COMELEC to recommend the technology and choose a provider for the automated elections, the Commission chose Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology for the 2010 National Elections.
The OMR system that will be used by the COMELEC will use 80,000 Precint Counting Optical Sensor (PCOS) machines. The PCOS includes a computer system, an OMR device which will read ballots marked by the voter, and a networking device for data transmission. This will cost the Filipino people P11 Billion.
The current automated election system is vulnerable to insider manipulation, software engineering problems, and remote or network attacks.
Introduction
For decades, we have used the manual system of voting, counting and canvassing in the elections. National canvassing takes two to three months. As our current elections system is exceptionally prone to various forms of corruption, it has been a popular cliche that a candidate either wins or is cheated.
But this is soon to change - or so we think. The Automated Election Law which requires an automated election system (AES) to “encourage transparency, credibility, fairness and accuracy of elections” [AES] will be implemented. The COMELEC is mandated to evaluate and recommend appropriate technoloy for the implementation..
The first attempt to implement AES was scrapped by the Suprement Court in 2004. COMELEC's P1.7 billion contract with Mega Pacific Consortium was declared null and void due to irregularities.
Free and Open Source Advocacy | ICT for the People | Freedom of Information | Privacy of Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
