Philippine government suspends top tech official for alleged misconduct

The Philippines government’s Ombudsman has suspended a senior Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) official over allegations he assigned government contracts to a company he founded and continued to hold a stake in.

The Ombudsman announced the suspension yesterday and named Undersecretary for E-Government David L. Almirol as the individual of concern, after considering “administrative complaints of Grave Misconduct, Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and violation of … the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.”

“In ordering the preventive suspension, the Ombudsman found strong evidence supporting the administrative charges against Almirol,” according to its announcement of the suspension.

Almirol founded a company called Multisys Technologies Corporation that offers software development services, plus packaged products. After over a decade as the company’s CEO, Almirol in 2022 joined DICT at the request of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to work on improving e-government services.

The Ombudsman alleged that between 2023 and 2025 DICT …