Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Over 26K Antipolonians demand completion of PCOS forensic investigation by the Senate

Press Release by MIGHT e2010


MORE THAN 26,000 ANTIPOLONIANS CALLING FOR THE SENATE TO FINISH FORENSIC INVESTIGATION ON THEIR PCOS MACHINES

Today, around 500 leaders from 16 Baranggays in Antipolo City gathered at the Senate to submit their petition calling for the continuation of the forensic investigation on the Antipolo PCOS Machines, which are currently in the custody of the Senate. Their petition was voluntarily signed by more than 26,000 Antipolonians who are strongly seeking for the truth on whether the PCOS machines are used for electoral fraud.

These 60 PCOS machines were turned over to the Senate last 19 May 2010 after the ordeal of more than 5000 residents from Antipolo City who camped for days at the Rizal Provincial Capital under constant threat by the presence of almost 600 policemen surrounding the area to guard the 60 PCOS machines found in the private resident of a Smartmatic technician.

“We risked our lives to protect the integrity of the 60 PCOS machines, because it holds the truth on whether there was fair and honest election in Antipolo City. We are still waiting for the Senate to give due attention to what we fought for.”, Stated by Mr. Fernando D. Gonzaga II, a representative of the “Pinagkaisang Lakas at Ugnayan ng Mamamayan ng Antipolo (PLUMA)” who led the gathering in the Senate.

As contained in the petition letter addressed to the Hon. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, they requested the Senate to address the preliminary report of the Joint Forensic Team showing irregularities found in the analysis of the 33 PCOS machines from Antipolo. They also appealed for the remaining 27 PCOS machines to be opened and analyzed by a credible agency such as the Philippine Computer Society (PCS).

The Joint Canvassing Committee (JCC) formed the Joint Forensic Team to analyze the (60) PCOS Machines of Antipolo City. The Forensic examination was conducted on only thirty three (33) units of the PCOS machines and thirty one (31) pieces of Compact Flash (CF) memory cards. The preliminary forensic analysis conducted showed the following results:

Extracted Hash Code Did not match published Hash Code. The hash code verifies the authenticity of the electronic file in the CF cards. The code will change if the content of that electronic file is modified. A thorough comparison with the official documented posted in the COMELEC website revealed that the published hash code found in the CF Cards from Antipolo is not the same as the extracted hash code.
Absence of Machine Digital Signatures. Examination of the PCOS machines revealed that there was no evidence found to prove the existence of digital certificates in the PCOS machines, contrary to the claims of Smartmatic.
PCOS Machine Can Be Controlled Through Its Console Port.The PCOS machine contains a console port, which Smartmatic claimed is only a one-way output port, used for diagnostics purposes only. The forensic team was able to connect an ordinary laptop computer to the console port of a PCOS machine using a serial cable.

“According to the Forensic Team, this discovery was (and still) is a major vulnerability of the PCOS machine  - which could be exploited to manipulate the actual operations of the PCOS machine – and which should be an utmost concern for election critics and watchdogs. Smartmatic cannot offer a technical explanation for this major loophole.”

More evidence of irregularities was found on August 3, 2010 when CF flash cards used in Antipolo City during the May 10, 2010 elections were analyzed at the SMARTMATIC warehouse in Cabuyao Laguna. Based on the manifestation submitted by NPC representative of Antipolo City, Atty. Andrei Zapanta, It was discovered that of the 367 precincts representing the precincts in Antipolo City only 317 CF cards could be backed up. 50 CF cards were already back up cards thus there were 50 main CF cards not in the possession of the COMELEC contrary to the statement given by the COMELEC City Election Officer that all the main cards were with the possession of the COMELEC.

In addition it was discovered that there were CF cards that were not reconfigured and were ordered to be recalled, contained votes cast in the May 10 elections. These CF cards submitted to the COMELEC contained error in comparing the hashes and couldn’t be backed-up at Smartmatics Cabuyao. Others showed that two CF cards were used as primary cards in one clustered precinct.

Taken as a whole, these new findings in Smartmatics Cabuyao and forensic evidence clearly show the possibility that the local election results in Antipolo City were heavily compromised. Through the initiative of the “Pinagkaisang Lakas at Ugnayan ng Mamamayan ng Antipolo (PLUMA)”, they hope to unravel the truth surrounding the Antipolo PCOS Machines to show whether there is really honesty and truth on the May 2010 local elections in Antipolo City.

_________

Source:

MIGHT e2010. MORE THAN 26,000 ANTIPOLONIANS CALLING FOR THE SENATE TO FINISH FORENSIC INVESTIGATION ON THEIR PCOS MACHINES. http://www.facebook.com/notes/might-e2010/more-than-26000-antipolonians-calling-for-the-senate-to-finish-forensic-investig/150731004956016


Licencia de Creative Commons Reposts are licensed to the respective authors. Otherwise, posts by Jesusa Bernardo are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Philippines.

No comments:

total pageviews since july 2010