Bautista hit over computer theft

MANILA, Philippines - A poll watchdog group sought yesterday the resignation of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista over a computer theft in the agency’s office in Wao, Lanao del Sur during the 2016 polls.

“The Comelec’s fresh start should be in the form of Bautista’s resignation after he has miserably failed to provide the necessary means to protect voters’ data,” Kontra Daya said in a statement.

Since the stolen computer contained sensitive voters’ information, Comelec has failed to reboot it as well as “the entire agency’s computers itself,” the group said.

It stressed that before the incident, the Comelec website was hacked and voters’ information, like addresses and passport numbers, was made publicly available by hackers weeks before the May 2016 elections.

“The Wao break-in highlights anew the brazen incompetence of the Comelec leadership and it is high time that Bautista resign,” Kontra Daya said.

Meanwhile, two months before the voter’s registration ends on April 29, the Comelec reported that the number of applications from prospective voters had 1,124,658 applications.