Honeylet's cousin sued for perjury over alleged false entry in Career Executive Service application

A perjury complaint  was filed Monday against Assistant Secretary Melissa Avanceña-Aradanas of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development over alleged false entries in her Career Executive Service (CES) Board application.

In an 11-page affidavit filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) led by Alladin Panganiban accused Avanceña-Aradanas of lying in her CES Board application by failing to disclose that she was dismissed in her previous employment.

Youth group SPARK filed a perjury complaint vs. Assistant Secretary Melissa Avanceña-Aradanas of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development over alleged false entries in her Career Executive Service (CES) Board application (Photos from SPARK) @gmanews pic.twitter.com/kWNKBCXdmG

— Llanesca T. Panti (@llanescajourno) July 20, 2020

Complainant Panganiban was referring to the time Avanceña-Aradanas and her fellow commissioners in the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP) were fired by President Rodrigo Duterte in December 2017  over alleged excessive travel.

Duterte appointed Avanceña-Aradanas, cousin of his long-time partner Honeylet Avanceña, as deputy secretary general of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in March 2018.

Panganiban argued that the firing of Avanceña-Aradanas in December 2017 violates the rules for CES Eligibility which requires that an applicant must has not been dismissed from the service for cause.

“This very public fact alone should have prompted the CES Board to decline the respondent’s candidature for CES eligibility and disallowed her from taking the written examination,” the complaint read.

Likewise, the complainant argued that Avanceña-Aradanas bypassed a rule which requires a CES applicant to have a three-year managerial experience as PCUP Commissioner and as deputy secretary general of HUDCC, the predecessor of the DHSUD.

“To date, her managerial experience only totals to two years and four months, unfortunately short of the three-year managerial experience requirement. It is therefore our public curiosity as to why the respondent was allowed to take the written examination despite this apparent lack of managerial experience,” the complaint said.

“It is our position that Assistant Secretary Aradanas’ CES application contained falsified statements concerning her past dismissal from  and lack of managerial experience, which the CES written examination explicitly asks from applicants," the group said in a separate statement.

Aside from filing of perjury raps, the complainant asked the Ombudsman to slap the following penalties to Avanceña-Aradanas:

•     preventive suspension without pay
•     dismissal from the service of Assistant Secretary for performing acts contrary to law and
•     cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement, benefits and the perpetual disqualification for reemployment in the government service.

GMA News Online has reached out to the DHSUD for comment, the agency acknowledged the request and forwarded it to the Office of the Secretary and Administrative Services for the response.—AOL, GMA News