Suspended Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary David Almirol Jr. on Thursday denied allegations of a conflict of interest in 1.55 billion pesos worth of government contracts, maintaining that he fully divested from his former software company within the legal deadline.
In a radio interview with DZRH, Almirol said he transferred his entire equity stake in Multisys Technologies Corp. to telecommunications firm PLDT Inc. in September 2022. The statement directly counters an Office of the Ombudsman order issued Wednesday placing him under a six-month preventive suspension without pay over administrative charges of grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service and violations of Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Editor’s Note: Almirol responded to the reporter’s questions in a mix of English and Filipino. Please refer to the video interview for his official remarks and full context.
Dispute Over Divestment Timeline
The Ombudsman’s seven-page order cited corporate filings showing a General Information Sheet received by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 2, 2022 still listed Almirol as holding 49.21% of Multisys shares. The anti-graft body found this exceeded the mandatory 60-day divestment window following his August 2022 appointment.
Almirol argued that the transaction date governs compliance rather than the regulatory filing date.
“Their filing was delayed, but the transfer of my shares, my divestment, took place back in September 2022,” Almirol said in mix of Filipino and English. “It still falls under the 60-day divestment ruling. The late filing of the GIS is not the basis for the divestment.”
He maintained that neither he nor his family retained any financial interest in the firm.
“It is 100% neither I, my relatives nor my children hold any ownership in Multisys,” Almirol said.
Bidding and Contract Awards
The Ombudsman’s inquiry centers on eight DICT contracts awarded between November 2023 and May 2025 for cloud infrastructure, data center colocation, web messaging, software subscriptions and e-government application deployment. Investigators cited financial statements indicating Multisys received 110.8 million pesos in 2023 and 514.6 million pesos in 2024 from the contracted firms for managed services.
Almirol denied that Multisys received any agency contracts during his tenure.
“Not a single project was awarded to Multisys. That is incorrect,” Almirol said. “The entity that participated in the bidding was PLDT, which bought Multisys. PLDT is a listed company and would not enter a situation if they knew there was a violation.”
He added that several of the core telecommunications and data center agreements predated his appointment to the department.
Claims of Industry Pushback
When asked by reporter Anthony Taberna in the radio show what he thought is the reason for the re-emergence of this issue, Almirol that many might have been affected by the reforms initiated at and by his office:
Almirol: I’m sure po na marami pong hindi masaya sa akin pong ginagawa, dahil nga po, number one, nililibre natin yung mga system at tinutulungan natin yung mga agency na kahit wala ng budget, kahit na kami na lang yung gumawa ng mga platforms. Alam naman ho natin po, pati [sa] eGov po. Wala po kaming development contractor diyan na talaga pong in-house develop natin, at nililinis natin yung mga doble-doble, triple-triple, at yung mga paulit-ulit na mga ICT projects na nandyan.
Taberna: So may nasagasaan kayo ganon.
Almirol: Ah sigurado po ‘yon. Opo.
Almirol said his legal team has prepared documentation to file a motion for reconsideration once he officially receives the suspension order.
The Ombudsman noted that preventive suspension is not a disciplinary penalty or a determination of guilt, but a precautionary measure to preserve records under Almirol’s custody while the inquiry proceeds.
Also Read: DICT, BetterGov.PH to Co-Develop Official Philippine Government Web Portal
This article is published on BitPinas: Suspended DICT Undersecretary Almirol Denies P1.55B Conflict of Interest Allegations
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