MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed the cousin of his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña to a new government post just three months after firing her.
Melissa Avanceña Aradanas was named the deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
Aradanas, whose appointment was released by Malacañang Friday, replaced Patrocinio Jude Esguerra III.
Aradanas was among the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor officials sacked late last year by Duterte for their unnecessary trips abroad and their failure to meet as a collegial body.
It was Duterte himself who revealed that his partner’s relative was among the commissioners he fired.
“Pati siya tinanggal ko, but I told my wife, ‘You can call your cousin and say, alis sila,’” the president said during the Christmas party with members of Malacañang press last year.
Duterte, however, dismissed insinuations that Aradanas’ appointment to a government post was a case of nepotism.
According to PCUP, Aradanas had been working in the commission since 1996 before she was appointed as commissioner last August 2016.
Duterte has repeatedly vowed to fire appointees who are involved in corrupt practices.