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Comelec: Contract with Dennis Uy-linked logistics firm not conflict of interest

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Comelec. techinicians assist in printing and transmitting election returns during the mid-term elections at the President Corazon Aquino Elementary School on May 14, 2019. Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/11/02/20190513-halalan-2019-counting-gcs-6578.jpg"/><figcaption>Comelec. techinicians assist in printing and transmitting election returns during the mid-term elections at the President Corazon Aquino Elementary School on May 14, 2019. Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA (UPDATE)—The Commission on Elections on Tuesday rejected &quot;conflict of interest&quot; accusations stemming from a contract awarded to a logistics company linked to a businessman who was a major donor in President Rodrigo Duterte&#x27;s campaign in 2016.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/01/21/poll-watchdog-wants-comelec-f2-transport-deal-canceled">Poll watchdog seeks cancellation of delivery contract between Comelec, Dennis Uy-linked logistics firm</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/25/21/unethical-watchdog-blasts-comelecs-deal-with-f2">&#x27;Patently unethical&#x27;: Poll watchdog blasts Comelec&#x27;s deal with Dennis Uy-linked F2</a></li></ul>The P536-million delivery contract granted to F2 Logistics, a subsidiary of Dennis Uy&#x27;s Udenna Management &amp; Resources Corp., was signed on Oct. 29 by the firm&#x27;s president Efren Uy and Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas.The firm had &quot;proffered the lowest responsive bid&quot;, which makes it qualified, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said.&quot;The question of conflict of interest was looked at. Talagang chineck &#x27;yan ng ating bids and awards committee. It was found there really was no grounds to say there was conflict of interest,&quot; Jimenez told ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart&quot;.(Our bids and awards committee vetted it.)F2 Logistics will be responsible for transporting election materials, such as vote-counting machines (VCMs) to and from election precincts, according to Jimenez.&quot;Machines will be at the place they&#x27;re going to be used maybe 3-4 days before election day. When you receive the machine... you&#x27;ll find out right then and there. You&#x27;re going to have what we call final testing and sealing,&quot; he said.&quot;One of the things you check is to see if the machines are in working order. Let&#x27;s speculate, is it possible during transport, nalagyan &#x27;yan ng preloaded results... On election day itself, before the start of voting, a zero report is printed out. The minute you find out na walang laman &#x27;yan... you know your speculation is baseless.&quot;(Let&#x27;s speculate. Is it possible that during transport, preloaded results were put in the machines... On election day itself, before the start of voting, a zero report is printed out. The minute you find out that it doesn&#x27;t contain anything... you know your speculation is baseless.)Jimenez, in a series of tweets, also said that after voting ends, the VCMS prints out an &quot;election return hard copy which is then certified by the electoral board and watchers.&quot;&quot;As you can see, at no point is the logistics provider able to tamper with the election outcome, either because of process safeguards (like the zero-report) or the fact that the VCMs have practically nothing to do with the results once the results have been reported out,&quot; he said.&quot;All this on top of the fact that the actual deliveries will be witnessed and monitored closely.&quot;Sen. Risa Hontiveros emphasized the deal &quot;deserves closer scrutiny.&quot; She noted Uy&#x27;s businesses expanded during the last six years, under the Duterte administration.&quot;Isn&#x27;t it conflict of interest for a Dennis Uy company to handle the logistics for the crucial 2022 elections? How do we assure different sectors that the contract will not result in possible undue influence vis a vis the conduct of the vote? How do we protect our electoral process from possible foreign influence, given Dennis Uy’s established links with China?&quot; Hontiveros said in a statement.&quot;There should always be watchdogs in place to ensure that nothing underhanded happens. The people have to stay vigilant.&quot;The next national and local elections will be held on May 9, 2022.<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1816370" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Spokesperson James Jimenez says he doesn't see how at any point during the transportation of elections materials such items can be tampered. 