PEP.ph has issued a statement regarding the discrepancies on the results of their PEP List’s PEPster’s Choice Award Winners.
In an article posted on their website Tuesday August 16, PEP explained why the tally of votes on their website didn’t match that of their winners list.
LOOK: Bloggers, netizens react to alleged rigged PEP List 2016 result
PEP reiterated that the results of the voting was audited and validated by the renowned auditing firm Punongbayan and Araullo so they can vet on its accuracy.
According to PEP, the discrepancy came from the system breach done on their voting system. Hackers were suspected to have entered their system to alter the results. One instance they’ve cited was that auditors have uncovered users who were able to cast their votes 10,000 times/day when the system only allows 100 votes per user per day.
In effect the auditor find it appropriate to nullify those invalid votes for fairness sake.
Below is the complete number of votes casted on the website versus the audited numbers.
With that PEP apologized to all the fans and managers of the artists who have been affected by the controversy. They added that they’ll be installing stricter measures in the future to protect the integrity of the voting process.
Here’s the full statement of apology by PEP.ph regarding the controversial PEP List result.
“APOLOGIES. The editors of PEP.ph find it unfortunate that we were not able to recognize and address this breach of our system until after the official tabulation and validation by our auditing firm.
We sincerely apologize to the fans, the celebrities, and the managers affected by this problem.
We recognize and appreciate the herculean effort and enthusiasm of fans who voted for their favorite stars, and we are saddened that the actions of a few have overshadowed the honest work of the many.
We recognize that stricter measures should be implemented to avoid a repeat of this breach. PEP is continuing its investigation of this incident and will take the proper measures for future projects that involve voting by the fans.”