The Philippine Comelec faces an urgent dilemma as it discovers a critical deficiency in its Election Management System (EMS) - the lack of an 'add' functionality. This oversight necessitates a modification just weeks before the 2025 National and Local Elections. The modification process, while deemed necessary, raises concerns about unforeseen risks and potential disruptions to the already sensitive election process.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on January 17, 2025, that the Election Management System (EMS), a crucial component of the Automated Election System (AES), would need modifications. This decision stemmed from the Supreme Court 's order to reinstate disqualified national and local candidates on the ballot. Comelec immediately halted all ballot printing activities and implemented contingency measures, including a review of the EMS's capability to add candidates to its database.
The review revealed a startling deficiency: the EMS lacked the fundamental 'add' functionality, a standard feature in data management systems. This basic capability allows authorized users to add, update, delete, or read data. It is baffling why a system designed for managing pre-election data, among other essential functions, would lack such a fundamental feature.Instead of altering existing program instructions, the modification involves introducing new ones that will enable authorized users to add candidate information to the EMS database. However, crucial questions remain: at what point in the EMS sequence will this modification be integrated? How will it interact with other EMS components? Thorough analysis and review of both the EMS and the new program instructions are essential to address these questions. Modifying an EMS already certified by an international entity for compliance with defined requirements and subjected to a trusted build process poses inherent risks. These risks include unintended bugs or errors, incompatibility issues with other EMS components, potential security vulnerabilities, and data corruption or inaccuracies. Rigorous testing after modification is paramount to ensure the system's stability and accuracy
ELECTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM SUPREME COURT COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS ELECTION MODIFICATION DATA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TESTING ELECTION SECURITY
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