Loren wants guarantee for automated polls

Senator Loren Legarda said today that the private companies that will provide the automated polling technologies to be used in the 2010 elections must provide guarantees against their systems bogging down or getting hacked.

Loren stressed that the guarantee can be in the form of a cash bond that can be used to fund special elections in areas where technical hitches may cripple the automated polling systems, thereby causing failure of elections.

"The responsibility in ensuring a successful computerization of our elections is a shared one among the Commission on Election (Comelec) and the automated poll system providers," said Loren. "They must prepare for all contingencies, including the holding of manual elections in the event the automated systems fail or are hacked."

"The government is spending P11.3 billion in taxpayers' money in automating the 2010 elections. So it is but proper that the companies that would bag the contract would be required to deliver as promised by them in selling their respective technologies," she stressed.

A spokesman of the Comelec had earlier acknowledged Loren's admonition for the poll body to ensure the reliability of the automated polling systems and their resiliency against attempts to hack them.

But Loren balked at the proposal for the Comelec to reward P100 million to anyone who would be able to hack the automated poll system.

"The Comelec was correct in rejecting the proposal because it is enough for the poll body to hire technology experts and beta testers to try to ferret out the weaknesses of the computerized poll system, if any, so measures can be undertaken by the system vendor to correct them."

Loren said that the people must be vigilant in guarding against the new generation of poll fraud that may be attempted by so-called "political operators."

"I urge the technically inclined and computer literate among our countrymen. The engineers, the techies and the number-crunchers. Please stand up and be counted. Be at the forefront of our efforts to ensure a clean, honest and orderly elections next year," she said.

"The future of our children depends on it," she stressed.

The Comelec had announced that it would employ "ethical hackers" to test the automated poll system for glitches and vulnerabilities. It said that the testers would be contracted by the Comelec, but that ultimately, the responsibility on safeguarding the automated poll systems rest on their providers.