SmartMatic changed server script to update Señeres name

The recent controversy on the allegations of Sen. Bongbong Marcos regarding the tampering of the Transparency Server of the COMELEC started out from an attempt to correct the entry for candidate Roy Señeres whose name was mispelled.

According to a source who was volunteering for the PPCRV as an inhouse IT consultant, there was a request (update: Rappler made the request) to change the name of Señeres since the default entry was spelled “Se?eres” (an error in the server’s strong encoding). People will notice this since the early reports of the votes published on ABS-CBN and GMA 7 carried the misspelling.

All the representatives of the major political parties were notified and agreed that an update will be made to make the correction. All the reps agreed and monitored the update.

This could have caused the hash code to change from the original string that COMELEC communicated. This would have drawn attention as per protocol but since everyone was aware of the changes, it should not have any problems.

It looks like Sen. Marcos didn’t have any representative during the whole process and thus raised the concern and used this as the reason for his allegations on the tampering.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

25 Comments

Easy E says:

9 years ago

hate me. I dont trust BBM.
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PEPE says:

9 years ago

well then I HATE U!!!..

PEPE says:

9 years ago

QUESTION: BAKIT D NILA NIREVISED AGAD ANG SURNAME KUNG NAPANSIN NA NILA ITO NUN UNANG ORAS PA LNG NG BILANGAN.. BAKIT NUN ABOUT 50-60% OF COUNTED VOTES NA SAKA NILA MAISIPANG BAGUHIN? BAKIT? KITA NAMAN NA TUMATAKBO PARIN UNG COUNT NG VOTES NI SEÑERES EVEN NA SE?ERES ANG NAKALAGAY? BAKIT?
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PEPE says:

9 years ago

UN NGA ANG PROBLEMA HASH CODE.. KAYA YUNG KAMPO NI BBM AY NALITO NA MULA NUN NAWALA ITO.. D NA NILA MAIDENTIFY UMANO KUNG SAAN NA NANGGAGALING ANG MGA BOTO NI LR at bakit in just a matter of time over taken na agad ang more than 900K lead of MR. BBM until naging more than 100K na ang lamang after which naging stable na ang lamang ni LR.
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JessPH says:

9 years ago

Election returns from Visayas and Mindanao (where Leni is strong) came much later compared those from NCR and Luzon. That is why.

Archie says:

9 years ago

Hindi kasi nila pwedeng dayain si digong obvious pag ganun kaya sina marcos at cayetano pinag-initan. Plantsado na ang lahat sa tingin ko papaassasinate nila si du30 para instant president si rubrido. Inuulit lang yung kay kureng akino. O ha? Tapos hapi hapi na ulit ang mga negosyo ng dilaw ligtas na din si nuynuy sa pdaf scam criminal charges.
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JessPH says:

9 years ago

PPCRV, COMELEC and NAMFREL are all showing the same results. Bobong Marcos and his camp are desparate already.
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P.Tayso says:

9 years ago

Boñgboñg daw kasi tamang pangalan nya XD

Easy E says:

9 years ago

Its on BBMs camp to prove. Transparent ang servers. Do the math. Hindi madaling manipulate ang figures dahil dapat consistent all through out yan. Im not a yellow supporter but i dont trust BBM.
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tmcr7 says:

9 years ago

Ganyan talaga sa Pilipinas. Walang pulitikong natatalo. Kundi nanalo eh nadaya. Hehehehe.
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Root Sentinel says:

9 years ago

Just making a point on every system we have different type of data queuing depending on chronology(Date/Time), Data size, DataType(text,number,character, etc), Sorting/Hierarchy and etc. on network perpective naman it could be delay transmission due to signal reception / network bottleneck. lets try to be open minded and again it’s a “partial count” they called, and let’s hope for the best for our country
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pedro makaluso says:

9 years ago

Dapat kasi pinabayaan na lang, meron kasing implementing rules regarding this – eh ano ngayon kung “?” character ang naka-display instead of “ñ”, it can be explained naman kasi to the audience – ngayon changing it, no matter how good was the intention, just raised doubts in the electoral canvassing process. all of us are not that techies na maintindihan ang mga character encoding na ‘yan, ‘tsaka dapat those things were addressed before the system was deployed – the government paid sooooo much for the said application and yet pinaka simpleng character encoding ng “ñ” hind madisplay-display, eh knowing na ang mga smartmatic guys galing latin america na kun todo “ñ” ang mga words nila – again it’s not enough to have a good intention, rules are rules and need to be followed.
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pipo says:

9 years ago

On the eve of the election Bong got an early lead due to Ilocos result, so he early declared himself a winner? When the result from Bicol, Visayas, who voted for Robredo, he shouted he’s been cheated by COMELEC?
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Curious says:

9 years ago

The consictency of the gap is really questionable
I do not support anyone nor voted but this gap is extremely suspicious if people really voted for her you will see a huge difference in the count of votes
This article sounds lame too, as if telling your teacher you had headache and cannot go to school
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Des says:

9 years ago

as working in an it dept too, i have a doubt in the system, why? they didn’t display the invalid votes as to counter tally the total votes that have entered..

second the timing of changes makes it suspicious, they can change it on the first place it was been displayed, bakit madaling araw pa?

third, as curious said sobrang liit ng gap ng lamang, kung marami nga boto kay leni dapat medyo mahina kay bong bong, at dahil di mo nakikita kong ilan ang invalid votes per category hindi mo ma tally ng tama kung yung boto ng pres , vice, at senator ay tumga sa total na bumoto plus the invalid ones and the no vote in the said category..

– on the side note napakadaling sabihin na i eedit lang nmin yung kay seneres ha, pero pwedeng di lang si senyeres ang inedit nila why? coz you don’t know their system.. kaya dapat walang editing na mangyari once it starts..
pipo says:

9 years ago

There’s no problem in Bong checking the codes/transmission data for tampering as long they don’t change anything themselves, right?

ocommon says:

9 years ago

Dapat hindi na binago.. Hindi naman ikakawala ng boto kung “?” lang ang nakalagay imbes na “?” diba? yan tuloy kabi-kabilang batikos na ang nangyayari..
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ocommon says:

9 years ago

oh.. naging ? na din yung “enye” character kung nilagay hehe..

rush says:

9 years ago

Just an untimely alteration, Ñ is not a new character :-)
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Ferdi says:

9 years ago

Tulad ng tatay niya, di magtanggap na ayaw ng pilipino ang marcos malibad lang sa mga mangmang na kabataan na walang alam kundi puro selfie at fb. Pweh!
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PEPE says:

9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfyzDC-OhmU
PEPE says:

9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNWoHupvWpY
PEPE says:

9 years ago

WAG MAGING MANGMANG.. WAG MAGING ONE SIDED.. RESEARCH DIN KUNG MAY TIME..

PEPE says:

9 years ago

http://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/elections/comelec-to-formally-probe-smartmatic-for-changing-computer-script/ar-BBt07sb?li=BBr8Mkn
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Glenn says:

9 years ago

They had the time to change it at an earlier day, as i know absentee voting began before the actual official voting. Why change the script when the actual counting is happening? Did they not see the error before the voting/counting started?
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