FORMER Philippine National Police (PNP) chief-turned senatorial candidate Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar yesterday urged the Commission on Elections to ensure the credibility and integrity of the May 9 national and local elections amid the disclosure of a cybercrime office that poll technology provider Smartmatic’s system has allegedly been “compromised.”

The ex-top cop said the Comelec should assure Filipino voters that this matter would be looked into and that it will not affect the coming elections.

“What we need right now is to ensure the credibility and the integrity of the election system, in this case, yung sa Smartmatic especially that the CICC stated na may nakita silang serious flaw sa sistema ng automated elections,” said Eleazar.

“Ngayon pa lang ay dapat ayusin na ng Smartmatic at magtulungan ang Comelec and other concerned agencies para resolbahin ito,” he added.

Eleazar issued the statement amid a report from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) which revealed Smartmatic’s system “is compromised” after a preliminary investigation on the alleged hacking of Comelec’s servers.

He said what happened in 2016 should not be repeated this time.

Months before the 2016 automated elections, the Comelec’s servers were breached by hackers and exposed data of millions of voters. This single hacking incident, dubbed as ‘Comeleak,’ is now regarded as the biggest leak ever involving personal data of Filipino voters.

The retired 4-star police general now running for senator under the Partido Reporma of another former PNP chief-turned presidential candidate, Senator Panfilo ‘Ping’ M. Lacson said issues about the integrity of the elections only undermine the democratic process of choosing our country’s next set of leaders.

“Ngayong may ilang buwan pa bago ang halalan, I am urging the Comelec to strengthen the security features of its data so that it will not be easily accessed and hacked. Tiyakin natin na hindi basta-basta mapapasok ng mga hackers ang kanilang system para na rin sa ikakaayos ng eleksyon,” Eleazar said.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon