The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary David L. Almirol Jr. over alleged conflict of interest involving government projects valued at approximately P1.55 billion.
Under the 7-page order, Almirol faces a six-month suspension without pay pending administrative proceedings for Grave Misconduct, Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, and violations of Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees).
The case stemmed from a June 2025 DICT Internal Audit Unit report, which flagged the hiring of former personnel from Multisys Technologies Corporation, a firm Almirol founded in 2010 and led as CEO before joining the DICT in August 2022 and the procurement of services from related businesses. Almirol later spearheaded the development and rollout of the eGovPH Super App.
An investigation by the Ombudsman revealed that between November 2023 and May 2025, the DICT awarded eight eGov-related contracts “totaling to about P1.55 billion” to firms with financial ties to Multisys. The contracts covered ICT consultancy, application deployment, web messaging, cloud infrastructure, data center colocation and software subscriptions.
Financial disclosures showed that Multisys reported revenue from these other companies “for managed services of P110.8 million in 2023 and P514.6 million in 2024.”
Records also showed Almirol failed to divest his corporate holdings within the 60-day window required by Section 9 of RA 6713.
“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% of the stocks,” the order noted.
Almirol was officially removed from the stockholder registry only in a subsequent GIS notarized on November 18, 2022 and received by the SEC on November 21, 2022.
Finding strong evidence against Almirol, the Ombudsman said that his continued presence in office could prejudice the investigation due to his control over key documents.
The Ombudsman emphasized that preventive suspension is not a penalty or a finding of guilt but a precautionary step to preserve the integrity of the investigation.