Privilege Speech of Senator Risa Hontiveros on election delays & COMELEC readiness

PHILIPPINES, February 3 - Press Release
February 3, 2025

Privilege Speech of Senator Risa Hontiveros on election delays & COMELEC readiness

Mr. President, dear colleagues, I rise on a point of personal and collective privilege. I hope to bring to the nation's attention an issue that may affect the upcoming 2025 May national and local elections - which is a little more than 100 days from now.

Kung hindi po alam ng ating mga kababayan, ang kontrata ng Commission on Elections para sa pagsasagawa ng 2025 May elections ay nagkakahalaga ng P18.827 billion, na napunta sa Miru Systems. Pinakamalaki ito sa kasaysayan ng mga halalan sa Pilipinas.

Ang masaklap, kahit record-high ang gastos ng taumbayan, panay aberya pa rin ang preparasyon sa halalan.

Nitong January 27 lang natuloy na ang pag imprenta ng mga balota para sa May 12, 2025 elections, matapos maantala ng hindi bababa sa tatlong beses, dahil sa mga kasong isinampa sa Korte Suprema.

Yung pinakahuling reprint, dahil daw sa pag-atras ng isang senatorial candidate na nakakuha naman ng temporary restraining order mula sa Korte Suprema matapos siyang i-disqualify ng COMELEC.

As a result of these developments, the COMELEC, along with Miru Systems, said that it had to make adjustments to the Election Management System (EMS), the Automated Counting Machines, Consolidation and Canvassing System, and other election software to remove - or add - the names of withdrawn or disqualified candidates.

This crucial and delicate process, called a "trusted build," essentially turns the source code of the Election Management System into the software that is executed by the election hardware during the polls. Software is typically written in a human-readable programming language, what is referred to as "source code."

This code needs to be transformed into something that can be executed by a computer, a process known as a software build. A trusted build is performed with several security and verification measures to ensure that nothing malicious was introduced to the source code during the build process.

In simpler language, a trusted build is like assembling the engine of a car, and making sure that everything is in place, that every moving part is in place, and that no dirt or any foreign object interferes with the engine running smoothly.

Nakailang "final" trusted build na po ang COMELEC. Mayroon noong January 13, at noong January 20. Sa puntong ito, Mr. President, kailangan natin itanong: Bakit kailangan ng COMELEC at ng Miru na magsagawa ng paulit-ulit na "trusted build" bawat beses na may pag-papalit ng kahit isang pangalan lang sa listahan ng kandidato?

This is like having to take out, and reassemble an entire car engine every time we have to replace a single bolt. Every time the COMELEC and Miru rebuild the software, there is a chance that malicious code might be introduced into our automated election systems.

But more importantly, isn't this practice liable to cause serious delays in the conduct of elections, especially when so many cases are still pending before the COMELEC and the courts? The Comelec is now claiming that they have added a feature that will allow the system to include additional names without the need for new "trusted builds."

Kaya naman tanong din natin: Why were basic features - like adding or removing candidate names - not included in the system in the first place, especially considering that the Terms of Reference require that the Election Management System enable the COMELEC to create, retrieve/read, update and delete records, or CRUD for short?

Mr. President, bilyon-bilyon ang kontrata, pero add o minus lang ng kandidato, magiging sanhi pa ba ng delay sa halalan sa Mayo?

The COMELEC has assured the public that everything is going according to schedule. But we note that they have made the unprecedented move of deputizing the National Printing Office to help out with the printing of millions of ballots needed on every precinct on election day.

Perhaps they did the math and determined that the two - and yes, you heard that correctly, two - printers provided so far by Miru Systems will not be enough to meet daily ballot printing targets in time for the elections.

The COMELEC also admitted that it will be using cheaper paper, which is 90 gsm (0.07 millimeters) or thinner by nearly half than the ballot papers used in the last election.

Won't this cheaper, thinner paper for ballots cause problems on election day?

Mr. President, we paid a record high amount of pesos for the 2025 automated elections and this is what we get - delays. And when it comes to elections, delays can have serious consequences for our people and our very democracy itself.

Tingnan natin ang nangyari sa naging halalan sa Iraq noong 2018, na gumamit ng teknolohiya ng Miru Systems. Their elections were delayed, leading to manual recounts in some areas. The credibility of Miru's electronic voting machines was heavily questioned.

Doon naman sa halalan sa Democratic Republic of Congo noong 2018, kung saan ang ginamit ay teknolohiya din ng Miru Systems, nadelay ang halalan sa mga rehiyon na malakas ang opposition, na siyang nagdulot ng maraming protesta at insidente ng karahasan.

Ito ba ang kahihinatnan din natin sa Mayo? Sana naman, hindi.

It should be noted that in connection with the 2018 Congo elections, the President of that country's electoral commission was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury for inflating by as much as 100 million US dollars the costs of electronic voting machines procured from Miru. Here, we are paying for features na hindi naman gagamitin.

Recently, during mock polls conducted by the COMELEC, problems were encountered vis-à-vis connecting to the internet, feeding ballots into voting machines, and long queues caused by the amount of time required to cast and review ballots.

Mr. President, I do not wish to spread fear or doubts about our upcoming elections. Buo ang aking suporta sa COMELEC sa pagsasagawa nito ng malaya, malinis at tapat na halalan sa 2025.

Thus, I would like to challenge the COMELEC to ensure that everything is in order well before the May 2025 elections. After all, its constitutional mandate includes identifying and acting on issues that may cause delays in the conduct of our elections.

COMELEC must streamline and plug all gaps and vulnerabilities in our automated election system. I hope that no further trusted builds are needed if more names of candidates have to be added or removed in the system, from now up to May 12. Everything - from the voting counting machines to the paper we will use for ballots - should meet quality standards and work well on election day.

Hindi tayo pwedeng magbulag-bulagan o magmaang-maangan sa mga isyu na maaaring makaapekto sa karapatan ng bawat Pilipino na bumoto sa mga susunod na lider ng bayan. Hindi lang integridad ng ating halalan ang nakasalalay dito, kundi mismong kinabukasan ng ating bansa. Maraming salamat po, Mr. President.