SC ruling on disclosure of poll preparations unnecessary — Comelec exec

The Supreme Court ruling ordering the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to bare all details about the preparations for the automated polls on Monday is unnecessary, a poll body official said Friday. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said there was no need for the order, claiming the poll body has always been transparent in the implementation of the automation project. "We have no qualms whatsover in showing our work," Jimenez said at a press briefing on Friday. Jimenez issued the statement after the high tribunal ordered them to disclose all their preparations for Monday's polls and show certifications that the automated election system is fully functional with continuity plans in place. But he said that the SC's assumption that there was no source code review conducted was wrong. "This is not true. I hope I can be very clear that a source code review was conducted," he said. He said they complied with the provisions in the law which say that they must conduct an independent third party review of the source code and make the source code available for review to ineterested parties. Jimenez added that the only restriction for the parties is that they cannot take the source code out of the premises of the Comelec because of security concerns. "We hold that that is good enough," he said. Jimenez, however, said they will still comply with the SC's orders. "In as much as the Court saw fit to rule on this matter, we respect the Court’s decision to abide by its orders," he said. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMANews.TV