Direct Smartmatic staff to stay in Philippines, Guanzon urges Comelec

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Monday called on the poll body to direct tech company Smartmatic Philippines to order its officers and personnel to stay in the Philippines until an investigation into a change in the script in a server that receives poll results is concluded.

In a memorandum issued on Monday afternoon, Guanzon urged the en banc - all Comelec commissioners sitting together - to have Smartmatic make sure its people remain in the country "in view of the investigation that will be conducted by the commission with respect to the issue on the change or alteration of the script or hashcode of the Comelec Transparency Server."

Guanzon said that "considering the public interest involved and the urgency of the matter, I encourage the en banc to act on the issue with haste and dispatch."

On May 9, Smartmatic personnel introduced a change in the server script that it said was a "cosmetic change" so that the special character "ñ" would be displayed properly. Smartmatic has held a briefing on the code change and has shown members of the media the specific command it used. The Parish Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting, which houses the server, has also vouched for the integrity of the data, saying it checked results against "other audit systems" like paper records.

Guanzon said last week that Smartmatic broke protocol by failing to seek permission from the Comelec en banc before implementing the change. Comelec Commissioner Christian Lim also issued a memorandum to Smartmatic last week telling the firm that it will need prior approval from the Comelec before touching any of the servers or equipment used in the elections and any access should be under the direct supervision of Comelec officials.

Earlier Monday, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said that  it was premature to talk about barring Smartmatic personnel from leaving the Philippines since "nobody is talking about leaving." He also acknowledged that the Comelec is already investigating the incident and that the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System will also look into the incident.

The script change has raised questions from the camp of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is in second place behind Camarines Rep. Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race. Marcos has hinted at, but has not outright alleged, that the change coincided with the erosion of his early lead against Robredo.

Bautista also said that the Comelec has accounted for all certificates of canvass except for those from Lanao del Sur and from Northern Samar.