The forensic examination of the 60 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that went “missing” in Rizal province after the May 10 elections continued on Saturday, and still IT experts, failed to find proof that the machines were used in cheating. Representatives from the Senate and the House of Representatives and losing presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas opened the remaining PCOS machine at the Senate building. The inspectors, including Perlas, said that except for the procedural errors of the Board of Elections Inspectors in packing the machines, there were no proof found that the machines were used in cheating. The group reported that the backup memory card of the PCOS machine deployed to Inuman Elementary School in Antipolo City was missing and a security key of another PCOS machine was placed in a wrong box. Heider Garcia, Smartmatic's electoral system manager, said that the BEIs assigned to the clustered precinct in Inuman Elementary School could have misplaced the backup memory card, but said that it should not be a cause for alarm. Garcia assured that the missing backup memory card is encrypted and it can only be accessed at the Smartmatic's warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna. Perlas and other losing presidential candidates Jamby Madrigal and John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes have been citing the discovery of the 60 PCOS machines in the house of a Smartmatic technician in Antipolo City last May 18 as a basis for their suspicion that cheating may have occurred in the automated elections. The PCOS machines were seized from PCOS technician Felipe de Leon, who claimed that he had no other option but to bring home the machines because of a wrong order from his hiring agency, Placewell Placement Agency. De Leon said in an interview with ABS-CBN News that the hiring agency told him to turn over the machines to the Commission on Elections. After the Comelec rejected the machines, citing protocol that they should be retrieved by Smartmatic, the technician brought the machines home. To dispel doubts on the integrity of the machines, the Smartic agreed to the joint congressional canvassing committee to have the machines subjected to forensic examination. The examination includes the opening of the hardware and software of the machines for scrutiny. The compact flashcards inside the machines will be copied to enable IT experts to examine the contents. “Through this we will find out if fraud was committed or if the machines were used. Are there hidden components? Hidden transmission parts?” Al Vitangcol, an IT expert, said. Before the machines were eventually opened on Friday, a debate due the Smartmatic's insistence that IT experts sign a non-disclosure agreement went on at the floor. The Smartmatic also disapproved of media men taking pictures of the procedure. It claimed that the requests were meant to protect the company's intellectual property rights. Nothing suspicious After an hour of delay, the machines were finally opened. Contrary to the losing candidates' doubts, the IT experts found nothing suspicious in the machines. The IT expert's findings on the clock, dispels the Smartmatic's claim that the internal clocks can be reset by shaking the machines. It was one of the Smartmatic's explanations of the wrong timestamps on the election returns churned out by some PCOS machines during the elections. The erroneous timestamps spawned suspicions that the PCOS machines were used in electronic election cheating. Vitangcol said they were planning to conduct further examinations of the PCOS machines before coming out with a report to the joint congressional canvassing committee. Meanwhile, the PCOS audit team formed by the joint congressional canvassing committee was set to copy the contents of the backup memory cards and analyze them. The audit team was expected to come up with a report on Monday or Tuesday next week. – ABS
