No conflict of interest.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said this regarding the awarding of contract to F2 Logistics for the transport of election equipment, supplies, and paraphernalia to be used in the May 2022 polls.
F2 Logistics is said to be connected with businessman and President Duterte campaign donor Dennis Uy.
In an interview with ANC's Headstart on Tuesday, Nov. 2, Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said the question of conflict of interest was looked at by their bids and awards committee.
"Our bids and awards committee checked that and it was found that there really was no ground to say there was a conflict of interest," he said.
"Why couldn't it be given to another bidder? Well, because our laws are very strict. You have a public bidding, there are rules that you abide by and if you have the lowest responsive bid, that's where you award it. That's what happened here. F2 Logistics did proffer the lowest responsive bid," added Jimenez.
When asked if the contract can still be cancelled, he replied:"There will have to be a valid reason for a rescission of the contract. There would have to be some sort of violation of the terms of the contract. There would have to be some sort of violation by F2, or a change in circumstances all of a sudden, like the project is no longer necessary, I suppose a case can be made for rescission then."
"But in terms of what’s being floated now, in terms of suggestions being made, again that would not be grounds for rescission," Jimenez added.
On Twitter, he also assured that who delivers the vote counting machines will not affect the count.
"At no point is the logistics provider able to tamper with the election outcome, either because of process safeguards or the fact that the VCMs have practically nothing to do with the results once the results have been reported out," Jimenez said.
He also explained that after delivery, the voting machines will undergo final testing and sealing before Election Day in order to ensure that the VCMs are working properly.
If the machines still malfunction, Jimenez said, backup VCMs are used.
Before voting starts, he said, the VCMs print out a zero-report proving that there are no preprogramed results in the machine’s memory.
Jimenez said after voting ends, the VCM prints out an election return hard copy which is then certified by the electoral board and watchers.
After that, he said, the VCM transmits election returns to the municipal canvassing system, the central server, and the transparency server.
Jimenez said after transmission, the main memory card is hand carried by the electoral board to the municipal canvassing system and then the VCM is packed up and awaits pick up to be returned to the deployment hubs.
"All this on top of the fact that the actual deliveries will be witnessed and monitored closely," he said.
Comelec and F2 signed the contract for the P535,999,998 deal on October 29.