DICT’s former chief wants to check the transmission records because there might be a discrepancy in the vote records. He said that if COMELEC has nothing to hide, then show the transmission record to the public.
Eliseo Rio Jr., the former secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is asking the Supreme Court (SC) to keep the transmission records of the election last May 9 elections to check alleged discrepancies in the recording.
“The mandamus petition with the SC is just to preserve the transmission logs related to the transmissions of telcos from the vote-counting machines (VCMs) to the transparency server and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) central server,” Inquirer quoted Rio Jr.
He cited the Republic Act No. 10175 Section 13 of the cybercrime law which recognizes the vital role of information and communications industries and provided by a service provider shall be preserved for a minimum period of six months from the date of the transaction
Law enforcement authorities may order a one-time extension, provided that once said data is used as evidence in a case, the mere furnishing of the transmittal document to the Office of the Prosecutor shall be deemed a notification to preserve the computer data until the termination of the case.
If not, the information may be deleted 6 months after it was entered. So, it would be on November 9 or 16 days from today.
“We need these transmission logs to clear our observations that there is a discrepancy between the transmissions to the transparency server and the central server,” Rio said.
“If they get deleted by November 9, then all evidence will be gone,” he continued.
PPCRV and COMELEC peak transmission
Rio emphasized that the transparency server handled by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which showed partial and unofficial results, registered more than 20 million votes by 8:02 p.m. on May 9. However, data from COMELEC showed that only 12 million votes were transmitted.
He also cited the PPCRV server saw peak transmission at that particular time, while COMELEC showed peak transmission over an hour later.
“This is impossible because all VCMs transmit their data at the same time,” he said.
Rio emphasized that despite his request for the transmission logs since July, COMELEC chair George Garcia only provided the data last October 18 during an Ateneo School of Government forum.
He also questioned how the transparency server was able to receive more than 20 million votes in just an hour after voting closed.
“In the whole history of Philippine elections, and maybe in the whole world, this was the first time counting of votes peaked at the very first hour, despite the fact that in that first hour, the Comelec General Instruction required the printing of copies of the precinct Election Result (ER) before any transmissions can be made,” Rio posted on Facebook.
“The transmission logs will determine if there are irregularities in the transmissions, which in turn will determine if the May 9 election was rigged,” he said.
“If COMELEC has nothing to hide, why don’t they simply show these transmission logs to the public?” he added.
Tags: #DICT, #transmissionlog, #discrepancy