A “self-made tech billionaire,” once hailed by the local business press as the next Philippine “Bill Gates,” is now a high-ranking state technology official (TO) who, insiders say, has shifted from digital innovation to an apparently relentless pursuit of government funds.

Nosy Tarsee learned that the core allegation against TO is that he never truly severed ties with the private IT firm he founded and ran for more than a decade. He reportedly profited handsomely when a major telecommunications giant acquired an almost 50-percent stake in the company for P2 billion, with P500 million going to its owners, including TO.

The plot thickened when TO took his oath as a ranking official in the department overseeing digitalization under the current administration.

An agency insider told Nosy Tarsee that TO had 60 days under the law to divest his business interests. Instead, three conflicting corporate filings showed his stake falling from 54 percent to 49 percent, with one filing made 24 days beyond the deadline, before finally reaching zero by mid-November.

The shares did not simply disappear. They ended up with the owner of a recruitment agency whom insiders flagged as a possible dummy.

Then came the contracts.

Beginning in November 2023, TO’s department allegedly awarded more than P1.55 billion in e-government contracts to subsidiaries of the same telecommunications giant that had acquired a stake in his former company.

Insiders told Nosy Tarsee that in 2024, one of those subsidiaries subcontracted about P500 million worth of work to TO’s original firm.

The company’s finances subsequently staged a remarkable turnaround, swinging from a P742-million loss in 2022 to a P209.5-million profit in 2024.

Since a controversial contact-tracing app launched in 2020, TO’s former company has reportedly remained deeply embedded in a premier investigative agency’s clearance revenue stream, collecting a P25 convenience fee on millions of transactions.

A whistleblower from the agency told Nosy Tarsee that the Notice of Award securing the arrangement bore a familiar signature — TO’s.

The department’s own internal audit eventually raised concerns. In a 5 June 2025 report, it invoked the term “revolving door,” noting that the arrangement appeared to suggest that a public position was being used to funnel resources back to entities with prior financial ties.

Then came another twist in 2026.

A young entrepreneur known primarily for selling kangkong chips suddenly reinvented himself as a “tech CEO,” despite having no apparent technology background.

The entrepreneur co-founded a new platform and prominently showcased on social media his access to TO and other department officials. He subsequently secured a memorandum of understanding involving government health digitization.