Sacked urban poor commission official gets new post

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed to another government post a dismissed official of the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) whose previous leadership had been disbanded over alleged junket trips and failure to hold meetings.

Duterte named Manuel Serra Jr. as member of the governing board of the Philippine Coconut Authority, according to the appointment paper released by Malacañang on Thursday.

Serra will serve the unexpired term of Abundio Edicio Dela Torre that is set to end on June 30.

Duterte dismissed Serra last December, along with PCUP chairman Terry Ridon and commissioners Melissa Avanceña Aradanas, Joan Lagunda, and Noe Indonto.

The President has since appointed a new set of PCUP officials. He also named Aradanas, a cousin of Duterte's common law partner Honeylet Avanceña, as Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council deputy director general in March.

Duterte's supposed habit of "recycling" fired officials is not lost on some of his critics who questioned the sincerity of his anti-corruption campaign.

The Palace, however, said the reappointment of these officials was the exception rather than the rule. — MDM, GMA News