MANILA — A poll watchdog on Thursday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should dig deeper into the ownership of F2 Logistics Philippines—the lone firm qualified to deliver a crucial 2022 elections service—after the discovery of its link to Davao tycoon Dennis Ang Uy, known for his massive campaign donations to President Rodrigo Duterte.

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F2 Logistics was earlier declared as the "bidder with the lowest calculated bid" for a P1.61-billion contract to "deploy election equipment, peripherals, forms, supplies, paraphernalia and warehousing for the 2022 elections."

Comelec said F2 will undergo a post-qualification process before it officially bags the contract.

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ABS-CBN News obtained an annual report of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020, where it listed F2 Logistics as a subsidiary of Udenna Management & Resources Corp., under the parent company Udenna Corporation in which Uy sits as chairman and president.

A Wall Street Journal profile also listed Uy as chairman at F2 Logistics.

According to election watchdog Kontra Daya, Comelec "should treat this as a red flag already," urging the poll body to immediately look into the ownership of F2.

"Comelec should realize that awarding P1.61 billion to a publicly known Duterte crony is unacceptable, and making him responsible for an important election task is unconscionable," Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao told ABS-CBN News.

"Comelec should also be reminded that Dennis Uy contributed P30 million to Duterte's campaign, based on the submitted Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE)," he added.

Uy donated P30 million to Duterte's campaign kitty during his presidential bid in 2016.

He ranks as Duterte's 4th biggest campaign donor, according to a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) report that analyzed SOCE data.

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Since then, the Davao-based tycoon has been gobbling up companies. In 2018, his consortium with China Telecom was named the provisional third major telco player, now locally operational as Dito Telecommunity.

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Duterte is known to be eyeing a bid for the Vice Presidency in 2022 on the prodding of his party PDP-Laban. His daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is also being urged to take his place in Malacañang.

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A Bilyonaryo report said the 2022 deal would be the third time an Uy-affiliated firm has bagged a logistics contract with Comelec: first in 2016 when he was chairman of 2Go, and second in 2019 with F2.

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