Source code for Eleksyon 2022 arrives from US

The source code of the automated election system that will be used in the May 2022 polls arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday.

It was brought to the country from the United States by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Marlon Casquejo, according to Joseph Morong's report on 24 Oras.

The Poll Automation Law states that the source code, which refers to the human readable instructions that define what the machine will do, must be held in escrow by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“This deposit of the source code in escrow of [the] Bangko Sentral is necessary to ensure that there is a trusted copy of the final trusted build, that will not be open to tampering or any possible alteration by anyone,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said during the turnover of the source code.

“This is a very important security and transparency measure.”

The source code is currently under the custody of the Comelec information technology department.

"Hindi pa natin nahahanda 'yung BSP... Ginawa din natin 'yan nu'ng 2019. Hindi rin ready on time 'yung BSP. So we delayed the transfer," Jimenez said.

(The BSP's vault is still not prepared. We also did this procedure back in 2019. The BSP was also not ready on time. So we delayed the transfer.)

“May vault naman tayo sa ITD and restricted naman 'yung access sa vault," he added. 

(We have a vault at the ITD and access to it is restricted.)

The poll body will also publish the hash codes.

"These are independently verifiable hash codes…and it will allow people to check for themselves if the VCMs (vote counting machines) they are using on election day are the same unaltered machines that have been subjected to the final trusted build," Jimenez said.

The system will be tested during the mock elections on December 29. — Jamil Santos/VBL, GMA News