Duterte appoints Honeylet’s cousin to Human Settlements department

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has named Melissa Avanceña Aradanas, the cousin of his partner Honeylet Avanceña, as the new Assistant Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

Duterte signed the appointment paper of Aradanas on Jan. 21, a list of presidential appointees released Tuesday showed.

Aradanas was one of the five commissioners of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) fired by Duterte in 2017, together with agency chair Terry Ridon, due to supposed excessive foreign trips.

Duterte then reappointed Aradanas as deputy secretary-general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in 2018.

The new department (DHSUD) was created by Duterte in February last year in his bid to consolidate housing agencies such as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), under one supervising agency.