More than 1.2 million overseas Filipino citizens voted online in the 2025 Philippine elections, marking the first implementation of a large-scale digital voting system for a national election. Voters participated from 77 countries using a remote platform developed by Sequent, a company specializing in cryptographic voting infrastructure.
Online Voting Platform and Legislative Background
The voting system was developed by Sequent, an American-Israeli startup focused on secure, verifiable election platforms. It allowed registered voters to cast ballots online using mobile phones or desktop computers, without needing to visit embassies or consulates. The project was carried out in coordination with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and follows the 2024 amendment of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, which introduced provisions for online registration and voting by overseas citizens.
The deployment also drew on infrastructure established through Comelec’s digital ID program for overseas voters. That system enabled biometric authentication and was used to verify voter identity before ballot access was granted.
Security Measures and System Transparency
Sequent’s platform included biometric authentication and cryptographic protocols intended to preserve ballot secrecy and ensure election integrity. According to the company’s documentation, “The system generates mathematical proofs that each vote was correctly cast, recorded, and counted, without exposing voter identities or selections.”
The software is open-source, allowing for independent review by election observers, civil society organizations, and technical experts. Sequent has previously deployed its platform in a range of small-scale elections, but this marks its first use in a national-level public vote.
The 2025 election’s digital voting system applied to overseas voters only. There are no current indications that the platform will be extended to domestic voters in the Philippines, though election authorities have described the trial as a reference point for future modernization efforts.
Sources: Israel Defense, New-Tech Europe
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June 5, 2025 – by Ji-seo Kim
