Ex-lawmaker Jimenez, 70
MANILA, Philippines - Former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez died yesterday of heart attack at a Pasig City hospital. He was 70.
In a statement sent to The STAR, his family said Jimenez “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.”
His body will lie in state in Funeraria Rey in Pandacan on April 27 and 28 and will be moved to Heritage Park in Taguig on April 29 and 30.
His 12th Congress colleague, former Bulacan congressman Willie Villarama, said “MJ was a good man and a good friend.”
Former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, another friend of Jimenez, once described him as a corporate genius.
The description arose from reports that Jimenez brokered a number of corporate mergers and acquisitions during the Estrada administration.
The former president and Jimenez were classmates at Ateneo de Manila University. Jimenez, who made millions selling computers in Latin America, returned to the country shortly before the 1998 presidential election, which Estrada won.
After assuming the presidency, Estrada appointed his friend and Ateneo classmate as his adviser on Latin American affairs.
Among the corporate takeovers in which Jimenez was reportedly involved was the buyout of telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) by First Pacific group from the family of businessman Antonio Cojuangco.
He later sold a broadband company he founded to
PLDT.
He also reportedly participated in the acquisition of profitable assets by pension funds Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System.
In 1999, Jimenez acquired The Manila Times newspaper from the Gokongwei family.
He won as representative of Manila’s sixth district in May 2001.
According to a profile posted on GMA News, Jimenez was born Mario Batacan Crespo on Dec. 31, 1946 in Paco, Manila.
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