Garcia: No glitch in Comelec precinct finder

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, there was no glitch in the Comelec precinct finder and that a “strategy” was in place to deny attempts to hack the system in the 2025 elections. (Screenshot shared by Nayomi Almojano)

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Wednesday there was no glitch in the precinct finder and that a “strategy” was in place to deny attempts the system in the 2025 elections.

Garcia made the statement after several registered voters reported that they could not access the precinct finder, which was launched on Wednesday.  They reported that a “connection timed out” would appear after attempting to access the platform.

Acknowledging the reports, Garcia said the poll body has a reason behind this, and when asked if the “connection timed out” message was a glitch in the system, he replied in the negative.

“Yun po ay part ng aming strategy para po macounter ang any possible attempt na i-hack ang ating precinct finder. Alam naman po natin na yung precinct finder ay naglalaman ng lahat ng pangalan ng botante sa Pilipinas,” Garcia told reporters in an interview.

(That is part of our strategy to counter any possible attempt to hack our precinct finder. We know that the precinct finder contains all the names of voters in the Philippines.)

Garcia also said that the poll body is anticipating attempts to hack the precinct finder. He also shared that the 2022 version received about 35 million unsuccessful hack attempts.

“Ito po, bago nilabas ay approved ng DICT [Department of Information and Communications Technology] sapagkat ang DICT ang nagseset up ng sistema para hindi po siya mahahack. Yung web hosting na tinatawag. After nung nangyari sa aming nung 2016 para mapigilan na yun at hindi maulit, nagkaroon na ng web hosting at may approval lagi ng DICT,” Garcia added.

(This was approved by the DICT before we launched it because DICT set up the system so it won’t be hacked. After what happened in 2016, we tried to avoid it and we had web hosting and approval from the DICT.)

READ: Hackers fail to breach Comelec website, OVCS

Garcia also said that if the Comelec’s precinct finder is hacked, the information will immediately come from the DICT.

Explaining the reason behind the poll body’s “strategy” on the precinct finder, Garcia cited international experts as saying that there are two ways to hack a system.

“Ang una, resources. Pangalawa, may sufficient time ka so kung sobra, massive ang resources, dapat hindi na natin sila mabigyan ng sapat na panahon para mahack nila yung sistema. So yan po ay part ng strategy and we will improve,” Garcia noted.

(First, resources. Second, sufficient time, so if the resources are massive, we should not give them ample time to hack our system. So that is part of our strategy and we will improve.)

READ: Comelec’s precinct finder for 2025 polls now up

In accessing the precinct finder, the website advises registered voters to type voter information “as indicated in your Application Form for Registration in order to get a positive result.”

The precinct finder will ask for the following information: full name, birthdate, and place of registration.

It can be accessed through here: https://precinctfinder.comelec.gov.ph/voter_precinct