DICT usec on preventive suspension over alleged conflict of interest
MANILA — The Ombudsman has put a Department of Information and Communications Technology undersecretary on preventive suspension as he faces a complaint for alleged conflict of interest in government contracts amounting to P1.55 billion.
DICT Undersecretary David Almirol Jr. is facing administrative complaints of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to best interest of service, and violation of Republic Act (RA) 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Pending the resolution of the complaints, Almirol will be suspended without pay.
The complaints stemmed from a June 2025 report of the DICT Internal Audit Unit which flagged a potential conflict of interest involving the hiring of former Multisys personnel and the award of contracts to other related firms.
The Ombudsman said Almirol’s continued stay in office may prejudice the probe, especially given his control and custody of documents and evidence.
DICT Secretary Robert Joseph de Claro has been sent a copy of the order, which is immediately executory and will stay until the termination of the administrative adjudication.
According to the Ombudsman, Almirol founded Multisys Technologies Corp. in 2010. He was the company’s president and chief executive officer for over a decade.
He was appointed DICT undersecretary for E-Government in August 2022. He then led the development and rollout of eGovPH Super App.
The Ombudsman said the General Information Sheet the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 2 of that year “listed [Almirol] as a stockholder of Multisys holding 49.21% of the stocks.”
The Ombudsman said Almirol was removed from Multisys stockholders’ list in a subsequent GIS notarized on November 18 received by the SEC on November 21.
The anti-graft body pointed out that under Section 9 of Republic Act No. 6713, a public official is required to divest his business interests within a 60-day period from assumption of office.
The office also noted that companies with financial ties to Multisys bagged eight DICT contracts worth P1.55 billion from November 2023 to May 2025.
“These contracts covered information and communications technology consultancy, e-government application deployment, web-based messaging services, cloud infrastructure, data center colocation and software subscriptions,” the Ombudsman said.
Multisys’ audited financial statements showed revenue from other firms for managed services of P110.8 million in 2023 and P514.6 million in 2024.