'Malicious' software may have existed in PCOS machines, group says

"Malicious" software may have existed in automated voting machines, a poll watchdog said, citing discrepancies found by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the Commission on Elections’ citizens’ arm. Although the PPCRV said that no fraud took place during the Philippines’ first nationwide automated polls, the discrepancies raised the possibility of "malicious" software inside the voting machines, Election watchdog Halalang Marangal (HALAL) said in a forum on Tuesday. HALAL was pertaining to PPCRV's report saying that they found four types of discrepancies in the results, one of which is that the election return (ER) would show a specific number of votes cast but the transmitted data would cast one vote less for one candidate. "For that to happen, there must have been one part of the software to set one vote less... that's malicious software," said HALAL’s information technology expert Roberto Verzola. The IT expert also questioned discrepancies regarding election returns and their transmission. Some ERs reflected votes cast but that its transmitted form would only show figures less than 10, he explained. In some cases, the printed ER would show zero votes cast for all positions but that the transmitted data would reflect votes cast. "That is another malicous code, to maintain two sets of vote data. There are hidden commands in the machine that will allow the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) to choose which data to send," he said. But election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who was present during the forum, cautioned the public to not immediately believe that there are "hidden commands" inside the PCOS machines. "Yung mga sinabi niya (Verzola) puro presumption... ito ay observation lamang niya (Verzola's statements are all presumptions, they are only his observations)," he said. He added that it is impossible for any IT expert to prove that the automated polls were manipulated. "The best evidence is to open the ballot boxes and have a recount. The remedy is to file an election protest and to expedite the opening of the ballot boxes," he said. He likewise asked the public to "somehow" trust the electoral system. "Hangga't di natin napapatunayan na walang dayaan, sana di tayo gagawa ng statement na makakasira sa sistema. Kailan pa ba tayo magtitiwala sa isa't-isa (Until we have proven that there was cheating, I hope nobody makes statements which destroy the credibility of the system. When will we finally trust each other)," he said. Verzola admitted that he has no proof of his allegations. But he was quick to note that this does not mean that his assertions are baseless. "The fact that such an opportunity exists is already indication of malicious code in the machine that could have been exploited," he said. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV