Comelec faces raps for alleged interference in May 12 elections

A criminal complaint was filed on Thursday, July 10, before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for alleged interference during the midterm elections last May 12.

- By JEFFREY DAMICOG

The group of complainants claimed that the Comelec committed 55,874,700 counts of violation of system interference under paragraph 4, Section 4 (a) of Republic Act (RA) No. 10175, the Anti-Cybercrime Law.

It alleged that the Comelec is not authorized by law to manipulate or interfere with the AES (Automated Election System) when it installed an intermediary server or system, in Data Center 3.

It explained that the poll body committed system interference by changing or substituting the certified and audited software program version 3.40 to an uncertified and unaudited program version 3.50 that were installed and used by the 110,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) nationwide.

Thus, it told the NBI that the Comelec is guilty of 110,000 counts of system interference for each of the 110,000 ACMs used nationwide where the software program was changed from version 3.40 to 3.50.