Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila. INQUIRER FILES
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday disproved allegations by a group led by former Gen. Eliseo Rio Jr. that there was early transmission of election returns (ERs) before voting hours closed in the May 9 elections last year, saying a firewall 鈥渞estricts and validates鈥� the transfer of votes.
In a statement, Comelec said the network activity detected in the logs of telecom provider Globe Telecom was a system 鈥渃onnection鈥� between the municipal board of canvassers (MBOC) and the consolidated canvassing system, and not the transfer of votes.
鈥淎t 1 p.m. a [canvassing system] connection from the MBOC was identified, which was caused by the [system] power-up that triggered the network activity that created the telco logs,鈥� it explained.
The poll body stressed that the recorded data before 7 p.m., or when the casting votes ended, 鈥淸do] not equate to the transmission of ERs.鈥�
鈥楴etwork data, not election data鈥�
A separate activity found in the logs of Smart Communications was the activation of 鈥渘etwork data, not election data鈥� that were active from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, it noted.
It added that the Smart telco logs showed only the 鈥渟oftware-defined wide area network鈥� (SD-WAN) in the towns of Alabel in Sarangani and Agoo in La Union, Agoncillo in Batangas, as well as the city of Sagay in Negros Occidental.
鈥淭he volume of traffic 鈥� refers not to election data, but rather to network data needed to monitor the status of the SD-WAN device,鈥� Comelec said.
This means, it said, that there were 鈥渢wo鈥� network traffic: 鈥淭he network monitoring traffic before 7 p.m. and the election results network traffic after 7 p.m.鈥�
The poll body further pointed out that it was 鈥渘ot possible鈥� for the telco logs to show that a foreign or illegal device sent ERs because 鈥渙nly a [vote-counting machine] can connect and transmit using validated digital certificates鈥� and that a firewall prohibits the transfer of votes before polling hours closed. INQ