DICT rushes digital signatures of 800 teachers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Saturday it was fast-tracking the processing of the digital signatures of more than 800 public school teachers who will serve in today’s elections in Quezon City.

The teachers needed the digital signatures for the vote counting machines (VCM) to be used in the elections.

Reports said over 800 public school teachers in Quezon City have yet to receive their digital signatures.

“The DICT acknowledges the situation and is working with the Department of Education (DepEd) to address the matter,” the agency said.

The DICT has been tasked by the Commission on Elections to issue digital certificates to 300,000 DepEd personnel nationwide, who will serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) and Board of Canvassers for the 2022 general elections.

The digital signature is the code contained in the “I buttons” used by the BEIs to access the VCMs and place their digital signatures on the transmitted certificates of canvass and statements of votes.

The DICT said it received 6,248 applications for digital signatures from the Schools Division Office in Quezon City.

According to the DICT, the Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure credentials, which are needed by the teachers to request for and download their digital signatures were issued and e-mailed to them last January.

The agency said it found out recently that more than 800 teachers in Quezon City had not completed the process.

Some teachers were reportedly dismayed as they waited in line for almost eight hours to get their digital signatures at the DICT office in Roces, Quezon City.

“Because the processing of the digital signature is being done online, we cannot accommodate such a large number of clients at the same time. This caused frustration among the teachers, and for this, we apologize,” the DICT said.