MGG supports competitive public bidding for 2013 AES; Calls for disqualification of Smartmatic-TIM
PRESS RELEASE
MGG supports competitive public bidding for 2013 AES; Calls for disqualification of Smartmatic-TIM
The Movement for Good Governance (MGG), a coalition of reform advocates, joined the urgent call of various citizen groups for a more secure Automated Election System (AES) for the 2013 polls.
MGG, through its Chair, Solita “Winnie” Monsod, expressed the view that Smartmatic-TIM’s track record made entering into another contract with the technology provider simply unacceptable.
“The major technical and procedural lapses during the 2010 automated elections raise serious questions on the credibility of Smartmatic to secure its system against unauthorized network intrusions and unwitting loss of information,” said Monsod.
“A repeat performance by Smartmatic would once again throw into question the integrity of election results. As responsible citizens of this country we cannot allow the voting results to be compromised.”
MGG’s position is based on discussions with its affiliated organizations that were actively involved in monitoring the 2010 automated elections, namely: the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), TransparentElections.Org.Ph, AES Watch, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem), the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), and Alyansa Agrikultura.
MGG fully supports the recommendation of the Comelec Advisory Committee (CAC) to have a competitive public bidding for the 2013 AES.
The Movement also backs the recommendations of the CAC calling for the adoption of following technical features in the 2013 AES which were not provided by Smartmatic in 2010 AES:
- Use of standard and verifiable digital signatures for the machines and personnel and provision for accurate, reliable and universal time stamps;
- Appropriately secured machine access facilities and forensics of the hardware;
- Availability of on-screen voter verification of his/her vote;
- Scanner should store the raw scanned date and provide ballot authentication feature, with printouts showing serial numbers, time stamps and unique machine identifiable features;
- Source code and circuit schematics should be open for review, including audit logs.
“We should learn from the lessons of the past lest the vulnerabilities in the AES be used by some unscrupulous operators to manipulate the results of future elections,” said Ma. Corazon Akol of TransparentElections.Org.Ph, who is also the President of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS).
“We sincerely hope the Brillantes Commision does not repeat the errors of the Melo Commision,” added Ernest Ordoñez, Chair of Alyansa Agrikultura.
MGG and its affiliates believe that the Comelec should continue to explore a total solution meeting the basic technical requirements of accuracy, reliability, auditability and transparency decreed by the poll automation law.
Available for download:
- MGG Press Release March 12, 2012
- MGG Press Conference March 12, 2012 Agenda and Speakers
- MGG Position Summary
- “Puzzles for the uninitiated” by Solita Collas-Monsod
- AES Watch Position Paper
- TransparentElections.Org.Ph Position Paper
- TransparentElections.Org.Ph List of Deficiencies of Smartmatic AES
- Defects and Vulnerabilities of the Smartmatic 2010 AES by Pablo Manalastas
- Presentation on Legal Impediments by Edmundo Casino
- Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman Letter to En Banc Re: Option to Purchase
- Comelec Advisory Council Recommendations on the Procurement of the AES and the Comelec Consolidation Canvassing System (CCS)
- Tanggulang Demokrasya Response to Comelec and JCOC Reports
- CBCP-NASSA-JP Letter to Comelec Re: Smartmatic
- “Farmers, elections and Smartmatic” by Ernesto Ordonez
- Alyansa Agrikultura Statement
In the news:
- Blacklist Smartmatic in 2013 polls, civil society, IT experts tell Comelec – PCIJ.org
- Declare Smartmatic poll machines unfit, group tells Comelec – Rappler.com
- NGOs want Smartmatic out of 2013 polls – InterAksyon.com (TV5)
Comelec’s response:
The Movement for Good Governance 