THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday removed all files in all servers it used during the May 9 national and local elections.
According to Comelec acting spokesperson Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, the activity was witnessed by the political parties and citizens’ arm groups at the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
“What we did was to back up the files in the server, then deleted the same at the server. Thereby securing all election files by way of back up hard drive media,” Laudiangco told the media.
The deleted backup files contain backup hard drives, which include the list of precincts, serialized ballot templates, candidates’ profiles, among others.
“The other way around, we are preserving the data in the servers as a matter of protocol, in case it will be needed for election protests, as well as in case a precautionary protection order will be issued,” Laudiangco added.
The activity seeks to ensure that there will be no more remaining files in the server that can be accessed maliciously and used for unlawful means.
“In this manner, too, the servers can be re-purposed for other uses, at the same time ensuring full security of all election files extracted therefrom,” according to Laudiangco.
“These are regular servers which can be used in the IT infrastructure and ecosystem of Comelec,” Laudiangco said.