By Ferdinand G. Patinio
Members of Anonymous Philippines hold a protest calling for the release of Comelec website hacker Paul Biteng, in front of the Department of Justice on Monday. The group urged the government to tap the expertise of hackers who helped identify security loopholes of government sites.(MNS photo)
MANILA (PNA) – Although it currently has limited functionality, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has invited the public to make use of its revitalized website, www.comelec.gov.ph.
Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said that the public can view the list of registered voters by precinct, wherein they can find their precincts by choosing their province, city/municipality, and barangay.
It also enables voters to view if they are among the list of voters with deactivated status as well as those without or incomplete biometrics data.
Jimenez noted that they are still in the process of improving the online site, assuring that it is now more secured.
“If we simplify the system, we are decreasing the number of attack surfaces, which makes it easier to protect and, therefore, more difficult to penetrate,” Jimenez added.
Last March 27, the website was defaced and has since resulted to the supposed leakage of voters’ personal information.
Meanwhile, the poll body official warned the public against attempt of some groups to confuse voters from casting their votes.
“As the election draws nearer, there will many of such schemes as these with the intent of discouraging people from exercising their rights to vote,” Jimenez said.
Among them is when voters are being informed that their registrations have been deactivated and should not even attempt to vote anymore.
With this, he urged the people to visit their website and check about the status of their registration. (PNA)