THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that almost two million biometrics files of voters given to the Comelec were found to be corrupted.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that some 1.9 million biometric records they received from election officers (EOs) in cities and municipalities were damaged.
"The data from the registration center is being sent to the Central Comelec in a CD (compact disc) format...Later, the CD was found to be corrupted," he said, during the mock polls for the Precinct Automated Tallying System held at the Bacoor National High School in Bacoor, Cavite on Saturday.
Jimenez, however, said the original source of the data is intact at the registration center, where they can get a new file or record.
"But that doesn't mean that the actual source of the biometrics data is affected. The solution here is simply to ask the registration center to make a new CD," he said.
He added that the issue on corrupted files was uncovered during the regular management of their database.
Jimenez also reported that over 1,700 biometric records were discovered to have been incomplete and cannot be retrieved as EOs failed to have a back up file, which is part of their requirement.
"There have been some cases wherein...the picture or the fingerprint of the person is not that clear and since there is no back up you cannot recover the file. That totals to about 1,728," he said.
To resolve the problem, Jimenez said, “We write to them and ask them to return to complete the system (of registration)." (FP/Sunnex)