BSP inks agreement with Comelec to safeguard Halalan 2022 source code

MANILA - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Commission on Elections signed an escrow agreement for the safekeeping of the Automated Election System (AES) source code for the May 2022 polls, the central bank said Thursday.

A turnover ceremony was held on Wednesday where the Comelec deposited boxes with a copy of the AES source code with the BSP for safekeeping.

The AES source code is used in the conduct of the national polls.

Under the Republic Act No. 9369 or the Election Automation Law, the Comelec is mandated to deposit the AES source codes with the BSP for safekeeping "to ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections," the central bank said in a statement,

“The BSP fully supports and looks forward to the conduct of the coming elections in a manner work that demonstrates the highest standards of integrity, for the benefit of all Filipinos,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said.

The BSP said the source codes are kept in a vault within the BSP premises and secured with a series of metal locks and combination codes.

Access to the vault needs approval from 3 Comelec authorized representatives who were entrusted with the custody of keys and/or vault combinations "to act jointly in withdrawing the escrow properties from the BSP," Diokno said.

Source codes for the 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 elections were also deposited in the BSP's vault.

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