IT group seeks disclosure of PCOS source codes

MANILA, Philippines - A group of information technology (IT) experts yesterday called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to make public the source code review and other documents relating to the recently held May 10 automated elections.

The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (Cenpeg) said the Comelec must fully disclose to the public the contents of about 22 automated election system (AES)-related documents.

Cenpeg stressed the need for an independent and unprejudiced assessment of the automated elections but before it can be done, Comelec should first make open all the 22 documents.

“An objective study can only be done if pertinent data and information, relevant to the study at hand, shall be accessible and available to researchers and scholars, so that a no-nonsense body of knowledge can be developed in the interest of public service and good governance,” Cenpeg said in a statement.

Cenpeg is pressing for the disclosure of the documents, among them: the SysTest full report on the source code assessment; source code walkthrough plan; source code of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) program; source code of the CCS programs; file formats of all data files used or produced by the PCOS program; file formats of all data files used or produced by the CCS program; public keys used by all the PCOS computers; public keys used by all the CCS computers; user manual of the PCOS program; user manual of the CCS program; and the Smartmatic-Comelec contract with the complete annexes.

Cenpeg is also calling for the release of the finance and budget plan of the AES-Smartmatic; copy of the Smartmatic Voters’ Education contract; contract between Smartmatic and the Dominion Voting Systems; contract on transmission and deployment plan of the transmission facilities; report on the PCOS transmission on May 10 and thereafter; report on the customization; old ballot faces (national and local) matching the faulty CF cards; new ballot faces (national and local) actually used for the May 10 elections; report on the training of BEIs and technicians; inventory of compact flash cards used in the final testing and sealing; and the re-configured CF cards for May 10.