It is quite alarming that Commission on Elections Chair Sixto Brillantes is so confident about the credibility of the coming 2013 elections even though he himself has disallowed the review of the source code. How can he put so much trust in a system he himself does not understand?
Considering that there is no way for ordinary people to find out whether the results of the precinct count optical scan machines would match the data that will be received by the canvassing servers, hiding the source code will just strengthen our doubts as to the reliability of the election results.
The problem is that Brillantes seems to be too confident with his team he does not want to listen to the experts who really understand how the system works. We feel sorry for former Commissioner Gus Lagman who continues his advocacy for credible elections despite having been unceremoniously forced to leave the Comelec last year, knowing very well that his thoughts on poll automation have more weight than Brillantes’ blind faith on a system he does not understand.
—FELY VALTE,
felyvalte@gmail.com