Comelec to release source code early

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) intends to make the source code to be used in the coming 2016 elections available early so it may be scrutinized by interested groups.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said they are allowing political groups and other interested parties to review the source code earlier in compliance with the recommendation of the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC).

“If we will reuse the existing automated election system (AES), we already have the source code in the Central Bank. We will just open it for the public early,” Brillantes said.

The CAC previously called on the Comelec to institutionalize the early review of source code of the AES.

All components of existing technologies that would be used or reused in the subsequent elections must be reviewed early, the CAC said.

According to the CAC, the Comelec should allow the review of the source code immediately following the selection of the technology without the need to wait for the international certification entity to complete its own review and certification.

The source code serves as the human-readable instructions that define what the computer equipment will do.

In the 2013 elections, the Comelec used the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Back then, the Comelec acquired the source code four days before the elections due to the legal battle between business partners Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic International, which provided the PCOS machines.