Mark Jimenez, ex-Manila congressman, passes away at 70

Businessman and former Manila representative Mark Jimenez has passed away, his family confirmed on Tuesday.

In a statement, the ex-lawmaker’s family said their patriarch passed away at 6 a.m. He was 70 years old.

His remains will lie in state at Funeraria Rey in Pandacan, Manila on Thursday and Friday, with Masses at 7 p.m.

His body will then be moved to the Heritage Park in Taguig City. A final Mass will be held there on Sunday, 8 p.m.

Jimenez, Mario Batacan Crespo in real life, left 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. 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,” the family’s statement read.

Jimenez was a classmate turned close ally of former President and incumbent Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, who once dubbed him a “corporate genius.”

He made a fortune in the United States in the 1980s, via a computer distribution company based in Miami, Florida, with extensive reach in Latin America.

He returned to the Philippines months before the 1998 presidential elections, and Estrada eventually named him adviser on Latin American affairs.

Jimenez ran and won as congressman for the sixth district of Manila in May 2001, after Estrada was ousted via “EDSA Dos.”

However, the House Electoral Tribunal unseated Jimenez in 2002 for alleged vote-buying.

The following year, he was convicted in Miami, Florida after pleading guilty to charges of election conspiracy and tax evasion, while working as a businessman in the US.

He served his two-year sentence in a US federal prison before he was extradited to the Philippines.

In 2009, he filed his certificate of candidacy for president, saying he was doing it to show everyone that he was a victim of human rights violations. —NB, GMA News