‘MJ’ returns to Manila next month

After serving 27 months in a US federal prison for illegal campaign contributions and tax fraud, former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez will be returning to the Philippines next month to celebrate his 58th birthday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.

NBI-Interpol division chief Ricardo Diaz said they have received a "notification of deportation from the US" last Monday informing them of Jimenez’s return to the country.

Jimenez is serving time in a Miami, Florida prison after pleading guilty to election finance fraud and tax evasion charges in 2003.

Kevin Peters of the US Department of Homeland Security-Immigration Customs Enforcement (DHS-ICE) said Jimenez is due to arrive in the country in the morning of Nov. 22.

Jimenez, whose real name is Mario Crespo, is scheduled to leave New York at 5 a.m. on Nov. 21 and arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) the following day at 10:55 a.m. on Korean Airlines Flight 621.

Diaz said no NBI agent will be waiting to arrest Jimenez since he has already served his sentence in the United States and has not been accused of any crime in the Philippines.

"He would be a free man (when he returns) because he has served his sentence," Diaz said.

With no legal impediments, Diaz said Jimenez could even seek another elective post.

"He is now at peace with the law. He was (convicted) in another jurisdiction. As far as the Philippines is concerned, he did not commit any violations here," he added.

Diaz claimed he personally welcomes the return of Jimenez.

The Interpol chief was among those who escorted the former Manila congressman to the airport, along with then fellow congressmen Prospero Pichay of Surigao del Sur and Willie Villarama of Bulacan, after he was extradited to the US, a day after spending Christmas with his family in 2002.

Jimenez pleaded guilty to the charges of illegally contributing to the campaign funds of former US President Bill Clinton and tax evasion charges in August 2003 and was convicted on Nov. 14, 2003 by the Southern District Court of Miami.

He was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $1.2 million.

Jimenez, an erstwhile adviser on Latin American affairs of deposed President Joseph Estrada, was ordered extradited to the US, just a few months after he was disqualified by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) as representative of the sixth congressional district of Manila.

The HRET expelled Jimenez from his congressional seat for failing to prove that he was a bonafide resident of Bacood in Sta. Mesa, Manila, which he represented during the 12th Congress.