Comelec deposits poll source code to IT department

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has deposited the final local source code and “trusted build” of the automated election system (AES) of the May 9, 2022 elections to its Information Technology Department (ITD) in preparation for its escrow at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Comelec executive director Bartolome Sinocruz Jr. and ITD acting director Jeannie Flororita received the codes during the turnover ceremony held at Diamond Hotel in Manila on Wednesday afternoon.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the two officials will be the ones who will deposit in the vault of ITD at the central bank.

“The codes will be deposited in the vault of the ITD preparatory to be deposited in escrow in the BSP as provided for by law,” he said.

The proceedings were streamlined via the Facebook account of the poll body.

“This deposit of source code is necessary to ensure that there is a trusted copy of the final trusted build, the trusted copy and will not be opened to tampering or any possible alteration by anyone precisely because it is under the vault of the BSP, which is a very important security and transparency measure,” Jimenez added.

Jimenez said the verifiable hash codes will be published on the Comelec website for the people can check for themselves if the vote counting machines (VCMs) they are using on Election Day are the same unaltered machines that have been subjected to the final trust build.

“Again this is also an important safeguard measure as well as the means of ensuring the elections are legitimate and then the machines have not been tampered in any way,” he added.

The trusted build of the AES was completed last December 3 by international systems and software testing firm, Pro V&V in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.

The “trusted build” is the process of assembling the overall program that will govern the entire AES using the reviewed components.