THE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the six-month preventive suspension without pay of a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) undersecretary over alleged conflict of interest involving government contracts worth about P1.55 billion.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Ombudsman said its seven-page order found sufficient grounds to suspend the undersecretary pending the resolution of administrative complaints for 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.
The complaints stemmed from a June 2025 report by the DICT Internal Audit Unit flagging possible conflicts of interest involving the hiring of former Multisys Technologies Corp. personnel and the award of contracts to related companies, the Ombudsman said.
Prior to his 2022 appointment as a DICT undersecretary, he founded Multisys in 2010 and served as its president and chief executive officer for more than a decade. He later led the development and rollout of the eGovPH Super App.
The Ombudsman found that at least eight e-government-related contracts worth about P1.55 billion were awarded to companies with financial ties to Multisys from November 2023 to May 2025.
These covered information technology consultancy, e-government application deployment, messaging services, cloud infrastructure, data center colocation and software subscriptions, the Ombudsman said.
Multisys’ audited financial statements showed revenues from related companies for managed services of P110.8 million in 2023 and P514.6 million in 2024.
The Ombudsman also cited corporate records showing the undersecretary retained a 49.21% stake in Multisys beyond the 60-day divestment period required under the law.
The order is immediately executory. DICT Secretary Robert Joseph M. de Claro was directed to implement the suspension and submit proof of compliance.
The Ombudsman said preventive suspension is not a penalty or a finding of liability, but a measure to protect the investigation. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking