Duterte reappoints to govt post axed cousin of Honeylet Avanceña

President Rodrigo Duterte has brought back to government service a cousin of his common-law partner Honeylet Avanceña, months after firing her as commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).

Appointment papers released by Malacañang on Friday show that Melissa Avanceña Aradanas was named deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) on March 7.

Aradanas is one of the five PCUP officials Duterte axed last December for their unnecessary foreign trips and their failure to meet as a collegial body.

Also appointed were retired police Chief Supt. Valfrie Tabian, as acting director general of the Bureau of Corrections; and Monica "Nikki" Teodoro as Duterte's special envoy to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a one-year term position expiring on September 27 this year.

A former Tarlac lawmaker, Teodoro is the wife of former Defense secretary and 2010 presidential candidate Gilbert Teodoro. —LBG, GMA News