Criminal, administrative raps filed vs DHSUD exec

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DEPARTMENT of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Assistant Secretary Melissa Avanceña Aradanas is facing criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Career Service Executive Service Board (CSEB) over alleged misrepresentations in her application for the post.

Complainant Alladin Panganiban, a member of youth activist group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK), sought an indictment against Aradanas for perjury on allegations that she made false statements in her application submitted to the CSEB.

Panganiban claimed Aradanas is a “cousin of President Duterte’s current live-in partner Honeylet Avanceña.”

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Aside from a criminal case, Panganiban also asked the Ombudsman to place Aradanas under preventive suspension while the investigation is ongoing and to order her removal from office with forfeiture of benefits if she is found liable for the offenses cited in the complaint.

“It is our position that ASec 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 complainant said.

According to the 11-page complaint affidavit, Aradanas failed the requirement of the CESB for eligibility that the candidate must be “of good moral character.”

Invoking the Supreme Court ruling in the 1997 case of People vs. Sorrel, the complainant said perjury is a crime involving moral turpitude which is incompatible with good moral character.

Panganiban noted that Aradanas was among officials of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor dismissed by President Duterte in a public announcement on December 12, 2017.

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