MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has assigned Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to look into several hacking incidences of government websites.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Monday that CICT Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua will be the one to lead the investigation.

Remonde said initial reports reaching them said that people behind hacking would just want to discredit the image and credibility of Smartmatic, the company tasked to supply and operate the automated electoral system in the coming May elections.

He said hacking was being done merely for the public to distrust the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the first ever automated poll.

The palace official meanwhile assured that the government is taking appropriate actions to arrest the hackers.

Several government websites victimized by hackers were Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Labor and Employment, National Disaster Coordinating Council, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)

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