Manila, PHILIPPINES – In a series of tweets on Tuesday, November 2, Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez clarified that the logistics provider responsible for the delivery of the vote counting machines (VCMs) to be used for the May 2022 elections will not affect the election counting.
Jimenez explained that after the VCMs are delivered, they undergo final testing and sealing up to three days before the date of the election to ensure that they are working properly.
The clarification was in response to criticisms against the poll body for awarding a Php535.99-million contract in favor of F2 Logistics for the distribution of ballots, VCMs, and other supplies for the upcoming elections.
Poll watchdogs and critics are arguing that the contract is tainted with conflict of interest as F2 Logistics is closely tied to Davao businessman Dennis Uy, who is a close friend and one of the top donors of President Rodrigo Duterte during the 2016 elections.
The spokesperson also explained that “before the voting starts, the VCMs [will] print out a zero-report [to prove] that there are no preprogramed results in the machine’s memory.”
“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. All this on top of the fact that the actual deliveries will be witnessed and monitored closely,” Jimenez said in a tweet.
Moreover, in an interview with ABS-CBN, the spokesperson said that there is no valid ground to rescind the contract, saying that the issue of conflict of interest have already been tackled by Comelec.
“The question of conflict of interest was looked at, talagang chineck yan ng ating bids and awards committee. It was found that there really was no ground to say that there are conflicts of interest,” he said. TNF