By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Little buzz, if at all, has been given to the fact that the logistical contract for the May 9, 2022 national and local elections was awarded by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to the firm largely controlled by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy.
While nothing conclusive is to be made out of it, a whiff of uncertainty stays in the air like a stale scent on the presidential elections. Malice has always been clipped to Mr. Uy’s business suit since 2016 to the extent that rumors have tied his interests neatly to that of President Duterte’s.
The equation runs something like this: the greater Dennis Uy’s business empire grows, the greater Duterte’s political dynasty grows. Whether that equation is accidental, a happenstance, or premeditated, expect outright denial from both parties.
Their denials are irrelevant, though, considering that Uy’s company buying spree has already given him control of over 30 firms from telecoms to shipping, real estate, gambling – heck, you name it! And all since Duterte, recipient of Mr. Uy’s hefty campaign donation, assumed power in 2016.
But for people like me – like many of us – I’d like to see that equation proven wrong. The most powerful solution to that thesis is precisely the presidential polls next year, provided that our equal right to suffrage is kept sacred, free from fraud and manipulation.
In fairness to Uy, his logistics firms have a track record in handling election requirements which entail, among others, the delivery of ballots, vote-counting machines, transmission equipment, and devices.
He did it in 2016 with his company 2GO (later bought by SM Group) when Duterte won the presidency, and then again in 2019 with F2 Logistics Phils in which he sits as chairman of the board when Duterte’s senatorial slate nearly scored a sweep of the 12 vacant Senate seats.
Again, the Duterte-Uy equation is inconclusive but reeking of some powerful, maybe intoxicating, potion. So, I’m all for supporting Sen. Leila De Lima’s resolution filed before the Senate to hold a congressional probe into F2 Logistics’ winning the Comelec contract for the third time.
You know, there’s a saying: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” But, of course, nothing comes after that precisely because no one is supposed to fall for the same trick a third time.
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