MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday that F2 Logistics did not violate any election law regarding the election materials found in Amadeo, Cavite, days after the May 9 elections.
Acting Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco, in a statement, said the Commission en banc approved the report of the Packing and Shipping Committee (PSC) that investigated the May 20 incident.
“On election offense, they did not see overt act leading to a probable cause. As to contract performance and compliance to its contractual obligations, the evaluation is on per government procurement rules,” he said.
Asked on the possible penalty for a violation of the contractual obligations, he said, “Under the Government Procurement Reform Act the Performance Security may be forfeited, in case they did not comply (with) contractual obligations.”
“You can also claim warranty security (this is the percentage retention on each payment while the warranty exists on all warrantable deliverables). There is still blacklisting, the grounds and procedures of which are also in the IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) of RA 9184,” Laudiangco added.
In its Investigation Report to Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, the PSC said there is no cause for alarm as to the materials found in the area.
"Per investigation/inspection of the Packing and Shipping Committee (PS), it was found that the said election materials inside the black boxes were used items such as indelible ink, stamp pads, bond papers, as well as, used/excess non-accountable forms, ballot secrecy folders, and envelopes,” said the report submitted on June 9.
It added that none of the items were considered "cause for alarm or used for fraud or similar activities as may have been alleged in the FB (Facebook) post."
"Notarized affidavits of members of the Electoral Boards assigned in JP Rizal Elementary School, Pingkian, 1st District of Manila, where the said items came from reinforced the PSC findings,” it added.
The report was approved by the commission in its regular en banc meeting on June 15.
During the deliberation on the report, Ferolino stated the inclusion of said election materials in the reverse logistics in JP Rizal Elementary School was on account of inadvertence, with the school's clerk custodian giving instructions to F2 personnel to take everything, wherein the latter is of the impression to retrieve the subject items together with the vote-counting machines.
During transit and upon realizing that the subject election materials are not included in the items subject of the reverse logistics, the concerned F2 Logistics Personnel temporarily unloaded such in their parking area in Amadeo, Cavite while seeking clarification as to where to deliver these materials.
It was also found out that after the clarification and realizing their inadvertence and miscommunication with the clerk of the school, F2 personnel immediately recovered such election materials and brought the same to the F2 Logistics Headquarters in Parañaque City, where it has been stored for safekeeping and that the area where the election materials were found is, in fact, a parking area of F2 Logistics vehicles, and that the subject items were all accounted for as having been presented to and inspected by the PS investigators.
Last month, pictures and video photos of purported election materials seen in an open area somewhere in Amadeo, went viral when it was posted on social media. (PNA)
