Mark Jimenez, ex-Manila rep, dies

Mara Cepeda

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Mark Jimenez, ex-Manila rep, dies
He was once described as a 'corporate genius' by former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada

MANILA, Philippines – Former Manila 6th District representative Mark Jimenez died on Tuesday morning, April 25. He was 70 years old. 

The Jimenez family said he passed away at 6 am, leaving behind 13 children. 

“He embodied a story for all of us, one of starting humbly, rising above all his circumstances and eventually choosing a life of service,” the Jimenez family said in a statement. 

“This is the story we choose to remember him by, as his children, all 13 of us, and his chosen children, in District 6 in Manila,” they added.  

Jimenez’s wake will be held from April 27 to 28 at the Funeraria Rey in Pandacan, Manila, with masses to be held at 7 pm.

His remains will then be moved to the Heritage Park Taguig on April 29 and 30. A 7 pm mass will be held on April 29, while the final mass is scheduled at 8 pm on April 30.

“We thank you all for your kind prayers and condolences at this difficult time for the family,” said the Jimenez children. 

Jimenez was once dubbed as a “corporate genius” by former president and now Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada, who was his classmate at the Ateneo de Manila University. 

Jimenez made a fortune in the United States in the late 1980s through establishing a firm in Miami, Florida that sold and distributed computer parts in Latin America.  

He later became one of Estrada’s trusted men, even being appointed as the former president’s adviser on Latin American affairs.

When the Manila Times closed down in 1999 after facing a P100 million libel suit filed by Estrada, Jimenez became the brief owner of the newspaper.

But Jimenez and Estrada are believed to have had a falling out before the latter was ousted as president in 2001. 

In the same year, Jimenez ran and won as representative of Manila’s 6th District. But he was unseated in 2002 for allegedly buying votes. 

A year later, Jimenez was sentenced to 27 months in prison in Miami, Florida and was fined $1.2 million due to tax evasion charges and election financing offenses for helping fund the Democratic Party’s election campaign. He served 22 months in prison. 

In 2008, Jimenez accused former justice secretary Hernando “Nani” Perez of extorting $2 million from him, supposedly in exchange for not being named a co-defendant in the Estrada plunder case.

Perez was cleared of all 4 criminal charges in 2012. – Rappler.com

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Mara Cepeda

Mara Cepeda specializes in stories about politics and local governance. She covers the Office of the Vice President, the Senate, and the Philippine opposition. She is a 2021 fellow of the Asia Journalism Fellowship and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship of the UN. Got tips? Email her at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or tweet @maracepeda.