Rep. Lawrence Fortun of Agusan del Norte urged Sen. Imee Marcos to first ascertain and prove what she calls security breaches with Smartmatic's operations as this would have serious impact on the integrity of the elections.
Responding to Senator Imee Marcos' claims of a "very serious" security breach in the operations of Smartmatic allegedly involving one of its employees who had access to confidential information, Rep. Lawrence Fortun, member of the House joint Congressional Oversight committee asked her to "ascertain and prove first the alleged security breach."
Imee, citing Facebook posts from a purported hackers' group called XSOS, the incident supposedly happened when Smartmatic's contractual worker took out an offiicial laptop and leaked its contents Senator Imee Marcos on Thursday accused Smartmatic, the provider of the automated elections system (AES) and vote counting machines (VCMs), of a security breach.
Fortun of Agusan del Norte (1st district) said he was not privy to the information divulged in an executive session of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People's Participation.
As a member of the House panel of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System, I think this is an issue that the Comelec should explain to the public, Fortun said in a statement.
"Congress, concerned agencies and experts from the public and private sectors must ascertain the facts first. Allegations must be substantiated with actual proof and thorough analysis," Fortun said.
It is premature to make conclusions at this point. We need to hear from Comelec a clear assurance that they will immediately investigate and address the matter, Fortun added.
This alleged breach, if it turns out to be true, will impact on the credibility of the 2022 elections. If it is not true, then those who proliferated the allegations should be held accountable for their actions.
He added that the integrity of the election process should be safeguarded at all times.
"I also find it a cause for concern that the Comelec proceeded with the printing of the more than 70 percent of the ballots without the usual proper representation from candidates, political parties or their representatives and civil societies," Fortun said.
Under the Omnibus Election Code, these concerned parties should be allowed to observe. The Commission should ensure that transparency measures like this are not only encouraged but actually observed. We await the explanation of the Comelec on this particular matter. We want to know if internal and external audits are in place, being done and veritifed, Fortun said.
Similarly, he said the same issue of transparency may also be raised as to the conduct of the configuration of the secure digital (SD) cards without the presence of representatives of candidates or political parties and civil society groups being invited and given access to observe the whole process, Fortun added.
Tags: #Fortun, #ImeeMarcos, #securitybreach, #Smartmatic, #Comelec, #election2022