Comelec wary over reported shipment of signal jammers

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking into possible attempts to manipulate the results of the upcoming automated elections with the reported shipment of thousands of signal jammers in the country. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that although they are still verifying the report, they are not discounting the fact that the 5,000 units of jammers might be used by unknown groups to disrupt the May 10 polls. “We know for a fact that certain people are afraid of the changes that automation may bring so that they will do everything they can to defeat the project," he told reporters in an interview Monday. He admitted that the poll body is “worried" with the reported shipment. “That's a little more worrisome. When you're talking about 5,000 units of the same thing and considering the proximity of the elections, then you cannot help but be suspicious."

The Comelec will be using GSM network radio signals - the same kind used by cellular mobile phones for calls and SMS - to transmit the election results from the precinct to other servers on the May elections. Jimenez, however, said those who would use the signal jammers may just want to delay the transmission of the results. “Delay, that's what they want to do. Delay is what makes dagdag-bawas (vote padding) possible and profitable," he said. Anti-jammers? The Comelec said the loss of the cellphone signal is a dire possibility on election day, but Jimenez said they are prepared for it. “We do have countermeasures, pwede mo sabihing proteksyon laban sa ganyang bagay (you can say that we have protection against these kinds of things)," he said. Earlier, the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have already been having difficulties transmitting the needed data even without the signal jammers. The poll body, however, said that they can always use satellite transmission or Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) for areas which have no available cellular signal. It earlier said that they have 5,000 BGANs at hand, with more on the way. Jimenez said that jammers are not “super devices" that cannot be stopped. “Pwede yang knontrahin ng jammer jammer (That can be stopped by a jammer jammer)," he said. “For lack of a better description, you can jam whatever sends out a signal that jams you." He, however, refused to divulge if they have these devices. “What’s important is that these measures are available, and that we have the means and of course the inclination to use them as needed."
Assurance Jimenez assured the public that they are not just doing nothing after hearing about the reported shipment of jammers. “The Comelec is on an active form of defensive game, we are more proactively defending this project," he said. He added that they know that the success of country’'s very first nationwide automated elections depend on them. “When people try to jam the system, when people try to sabotage the system in any way, they're not just sabotaging the election project, they're sabotaging the electoral process and that's something that is in the Comelec’s responsibility that is something that we are bound by the constitution to protect, so whatever costs there are, they will be taken on by the Comelec," said Jimenez. - KBK, GMANews.TV