MANILA (UPDATE) — F2 Logistics, a firm reportedly owned by President Rodrigo Duterte's major campaign donor Dennis Uy, has officially bagged the P1.6-billion Commission on Elections (Comelec) contract to transport election materials and other paraphernalia for the May 2022 elections.

• Comelec clarifies scope of logistics deal under scrutiny; watchdog raises 'propriety'

"Well, just this morning, the award has already been given to them. They were most qualified as the bidder for the deployment. They just got the award of the contract," Comelec commissioner Marlon Casquejo told ABS-CBN News.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez confirmed later that the en banc has already approved the notice of award for F2.

The contract was for the delivery, transportation, and warehousing of election equipment, peripherals, forms, supplies, paraphernalia before, during, and after the conduct of the May 2022 elections.

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya earlier raised concerns over the deal with the Davao tycoon's firm, saying Comelec should think about its "ethics and propriety."

Uy is the 4th largest campaign donor to President Rodrigo Duterte's 2016 presidential bid, contributing P30 million.

Casquejo said they awarded the contract to F2 simply as compliance to procurement rules.

"It just so happened that we are just following the GPPB (Government Procurement Policy Board) rules as I have said that we have to comply with the lowest calculated bid... F2 Logistics [has] the lowest calculated bid in the deployment of AES supplies," Casquejo said.

In the 4 items that were the subject of the bid, F2 Logistics’ bid was not even half of the amount of the budget allotted for the project— a total of P535.99 million, when the maximum contract amount is at P1.61 billion.

Its bid for 3 items ranged from P106 to P123 million when the budget ranged from P288 to P367 million.

Its biggest bid was P186 million for an item in several regions with an allotted budget of P662 million.

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