The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the six-month preventive suspension without pay of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) undersecretary for e-government David Almirol Jr. over alleged conflict of interest involving government contracts worth about P1.55 billion.
In a seven-page order, the Ombudsman said there were sufficient grounds to suspend Almirol while administrative complaints against him for grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and violations of Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, are being investigated.
The complaints stemmed from a June 2025 report by the DICT Internal Audit Unit that raised concerns over the hiring of former personnel of Multisys Technologies Corp. and the award of contracts to companies with financial ties to the technology firm.
Almirol founded Multisys in 2010 and served as its president and chief executive officer for more than a decade before joining the DICT as undersecretary in August 2022. He later led the development and rollout of the eGovPH Super App.
The Ombudsman found that the DICT awarded at least eight e-government-related contracts to companies with financial relationships with Multisys between November 2023 and May 2025.
The contracts, worth approximately P1.55 billion, 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 also reported revenues from the related companies for managed services amounting to P110.8 million in 2023 and P514.6 million in 2024.
The Ombudsman also questioned the timing of Almirol’s divestment from Multisys after his appointment to government.
According to the order, Multisys’ general information sheet, notarized on Oct. 27, 2022, and received by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 2, 2022, still listed Almirol as holding a 49.21% stake in the company.
The Ombudsman said this was beyond the 60-day period prescribed by Section 9 of RA 6713 for public officials to divest business interests that could create a conflict of interest.
Almirol was removed from the list of Multisys stockholders in a subsequent general information sheet notarized on Nov. 18, 2022, and received by the SEC on Nov. 21, 2022.
The Ombudsman said Almirol’s continued presence in office could prejudice the investigation because he had control or custody of documents and other evidence relevant to the case.
The suspension order is immediately executory and will remain in effect until the administrative proceedings are concluded.
DICT secretary Robert Joseph de Claro was furnished a copy of the order and directed to implement it and submit proof of compliance to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman stressed that preventive suspension is not a penalty or a finding of administrative liability. It is a precautionary measure intended to protect the integrity of the investigation and prevent interference with the proceedings.
