Outsourcing democratic processes

THE heart of the Automated Election System (AES) as per Republic Act (RA) 8436, as amended by RA 9369, is the central server of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It processes all the electronically transmitted election returns (ERs) and certificates of canvass (COCs) from the precincts and municipal/city/provincial board of canvassing centers, respectively. In the supposedly 2004 automated elections, Comelec intended to use its central server, housed in its own data center (DC), located in its headquarters (HQ) at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila. That means the termination of the public telcos or the aggregation of electronic transmission at that time would converge in the HQ's DC. From 2010 to 2019, the Comelec outsourced the central server processing to a service provider (SP) located outside its HQ's data center; therefore, the telcos converged therein too. Recently, the Comelec signed up again with the SP for the DC and telco requirements for the 2022 elections under the contract name "Contract for the procurement of secure electronic transmission services (SETS) for the 2022 NLE election results." So, what's the difference between the DC-telco needs under the Comelec operations in its HQ (2004) and under an SP operations outside Comelec HQ (2010 to 2019, 2022)? To compare the difference, an interview with the former information technology director of Comelec, Mr. Ernie del Rosario, revealed his experience in preparing for the AES in 2004.

Not long ago, the DC operations of the Comelec at its HQ was well managed by del Rosario, who was responsible for making it into a showcase of technological breakthroughs during his time like the use of a voter registration/verification system through automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) to ferret out double, multiple and spurious entries in the Computerized Voters List (CVL); assign voters in permanent precincts according to their voting addresses or residence; provide a system of regular cleaning and updating of the CVLs and project of precincts; prevent disenfranchisement and voter substitution on election day; and reengineer processes that will make Comelec's organizational structure more attuned to a modernized electoral system. In the DC, del Rosario used a top-of-the line server and database management system in managing the voters' list, utilized fiber optics connectivity for its data communications, state-of-the-art backup and disaster recovery site (BDRS) in Alabang and many more. As a DC showcase, del Rosario was very supportive of the systems audits of the DCs conducted in 2007.