MANILA – The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday ordered the preventive suspension of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary for E-Government David L. Almirol Jr. for alleged conflict of interest involving PHP1.55-billion government contracts.
In a seven-page order, the Office of the Ombudsman found sufficient grounds to place Almirol under preventive suspension for six months without pay pending the resolution of administrative complaints of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and violation of Republic Act (RA) 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The complaints stemmed from a report by the DICT Internal Audit Unit in June 2025 that flagged a possible conflict of interest involving the hiring of former Multisys personnel and the award of contracts to other related companies.
The Ombudsman found strong evidence supporting the administrative charges against Almirol.
It also said Almirol’s continued stay in office could prejudice the investigation, particularly given his control and custody of documents and evidence relevant to the case.
The order is immediately executory, and the suspension shall remain in effect until the termination of the administrative adjudication.
Almirol founded Multisys Technologies Corporation (Multisys) in 2010 and served as president and chief executive officer for more than a decade, following his appointment as DICT Undersecretary for E-Government in August 2022.
Almirol would later lead the development and rollout of the eGovPH Super App.
Further investigation of the Office of the Ombudsman revealed that at least eight DICT contracts were awarded to companies with financial relationships with Multisys.
From November 2023 to May 2025, the DICT awarded eight eGov-related contracts to several related companies “totaling to about PHP1.55 billion”.
These contracts covered information and communications technology consultancy, e-government application deployment, web-based messaging services, cloud infrastructure, data center colocation and software subscriptions.
Multisys’ audited financial statements report revenue from the other companies “for managed services of PHP110.8 million in 2023 and PHP514.6 million in 2024”.
Records also showed that Almirol did not divest immediately after his appointment in the DICT.
“Multisys’ General Information Sheet (GIS) notarized on 27 October 2022 and received by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 2 November 2022 showed that respondent was still listed as a stockholder of Multisys holding 49.21 percent of the stocks,” the order noted.
This was beyond the 60-day period from his assumption of office within which he was required to divest his business interests under Section 9 of RA 6713.
Almirol was removed from the list of Multisys stockholders only in a subsequent GIS notarized on Nov. 18, 2022 and received by the SEC three days later. (PNA)