OFW advocates: Data leak puts 1.3M overseas voters at risk

MANILA - Concerned OFW advocates urged the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to focus on protecting Filipino voters whose personal details were stolen from the database of the poll body and revealed online.

[READ: Data breach: Website uploads voter info, Comelec downplays leak]

Susan Ople, who is running for a seat in the Senate in the May 9 elections, said the data leak puts more than a million overseas Filipino voters at risk to all kinds of crime.

"Don't talk to us about voting in malls when you can't even fix this problem concerning our own personal data now available online, thanks to Comelec," Ople said.

"This is no longer about enhancing the voters' experience. This is about keeping our families safe. Comelec, what have you done?" she said.

The Comelec announced that it will transfer 337 clustered precincts to 80 participating malls on May 9. The said decision affects 231, 174 voters who may now vote inside SM, Robinsons, Ayala and other malls as part of "enhancing voters' experience."

Ople said that while mall voting is innovative and may be convenient to a number of voters, it also adds more burden to a Comelec under siege from hackers, armed elements, and fast approaching, immovable deadlines.

'NAHUBARAN KAMI'

Meanwhile, Migrante International Partylist echoed the same concerns.

"Daig pa namin ngayon ang nahubaran," said Garry Martinez.

Martinez said the data which can be accessed publicly reveals birth dates, passport details, previous and present addresses here and abroad and even information of their official representatives in the Philippines.

"The 1.3 million OAVs are most vulnerable because their passport details have been exposed. Matched with their names, photos, birth dates and signatures, they are more open to different types of fraud because their personal information is 99% accurate. This means that their information can be used not only for electoral fraud but identity theft, as well," Martinez said.

Martinez said they have also been receiving reports of 'missing names' in the official list of registered OVs abroad, specifically in Hong Kong, Italy, US and Japan.

In Italy, for instance, Migrante pollwatchers have reported that an average of 10 OAVs per day are not able to vote because their names are not on the official list.

"If we find that their names and information can be accessed in the data leak, what are the implications on the results of the elections? We also found that some OAVs have double entries in the data leak. Is this a mechanism for 'flying voters'? Nalantad na ba kung paano ginawa ang Hocus PCOS noong 2013?" Martinez asked.

Martinez and his group want the Comelec to be held accountable for the data breach.

Comelec Chairman, Andy Bautista downplayed the leak, saying the information made available by the site "is really public information."

"In respect of this website, it is now out there. The information, as I said -- name, address, date of birth, as much as possible they should not be sent out. But also, this kind of information is publicly available in other government agencies," Bautista told ANC News Now.

Bautista claimed there "was no fingerprint information that was taken" but he admitted that "there are information taken in respect of addresses." He admitted that details from "passports of certain overseas Filipino voters" were also leaked.

READ: Website uploads voter info, Comelec downplays leak

The personal information of some 54 million registered voters was uploaded by hacktivist group LulzSec Pilipinas to a publicly-accessible website on Wednesday, about a month after the Comelec website was breached by Anonymous Philippines, another groups of hackers.