Petition for Mandamus vs Comelec
on election source code filed
The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) filed on Oct. 5, 2009 a petition for Mandamus with the Supreme Court in Manila, to compel the Commission on Election (Comelec) to release the election source code for review as mandated by law.
The petition was filed after CenPEG waited for three months following the approval on June 24 by the Comelec en banc of its request for a copy of the source code.
The source code is the human-readable version of the computer programs that will be running on the PCOS and Board of Canvasser computers on election day. It will reveal whether the voting and canvassing are done properly by the machines.
Section 12 of Republic Act 9369 (Election Automation Law) states: “Once an AES technology is selected for implementation, the Commission shall promptly make the source code of that technology available and open to any interested political party or groups which may conduct their own review thereof."
On May 26, 2009, CenPEG wrote a letter requesting the Comelec to release the source code of the programs that will be used for the 2010 election for review. It was received by Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez during a forum on election automation hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in Manila. The Comelec en banc approved the request in a letter dated June 24, 2009, but was received July 10, 2009 by CenPEG.
CenPEG has gathered several IT experts, professionals, and academic scholars who have committed their time and skills for the review of the election programs’ source codes.
The petition for mandamus was filed on behalf of CenPEG by lawyer Francisco Joaquin. Lead counsel for the petition is lawyer Aquilino Pimentel III.
With them were CenPEG’s Executive Director Evita Jimenez, Policy Studies Director Prof. Bobby Tuazon, and Senior Fellow and IT Consultant Dr. Pablo Manalastas, Bishop Deogracias Iniguez of CBCP, Bishop Gabriel Garol of UCCP, Fr. Joe Dizon of Solidarity Philippines and Sr. Mary John Mananzan of the Association of Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), as well as other CenPEG Fellows. A joint appeal to the Comelec to release the source code, signed by more than 80 personalities from the business, IT, academe, and religious sectors and issued on Oct. 3 was also delivered to the Comelec after the filing. |
