Press Release - 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Counting Machines, Consolidation and Canvassing System, and other election software to remove - or add - the names of withdrawn or disqualified candidates.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