‘Human rights victim’ Mark Jimenez wants to be president, too

Alleged violations against his basic rights had prompted controversial former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez to run for president in next year’s elections. “Ako’y lalaban po upang mapaliwanag ko sa inyo na ako’y biktima ng kasalanan para sa tao (I will run for president to show everyone that I am a victim of human rights violations.)," Jimenez told reporters Tuesday. Jimenez (real name Mario Crespo) dropped by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) main office in Manila to file his certificate of candidacy (COC). He will run as an independent candidate.

He said he was unjustly unseated as Manila representative and accused of being a “money launderer, drug dealer, destabilizer and terrorist." Once elected, Jimenez said his administration would focus on protecting human rights and helping the millions of people affected by the recent cyclones that hit the country. Jimenez was a crony of former President Joseph Estrada, who is also running for president in the 2010 elections. In 2002, he was indicted in the US for contributing excessively to the political campaign funds of US President Bill Clinton. He served his two-year sentence in a US federal prison before being extradited to the Philippines. Last-minute senatorial aspirants Meanwhile, senatorial aspirants continue to flock the Comelec office on the last day of filing of COCs. Among the senatorial hopefuls who filed their COCs with the Comelec late Tuesday were Ang Ladlad party-list national chair Danton Remoto, former Senator Francisco “Kit" Tatad, and Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello. Remoto, a 46-year-old professor at the Ateneo De Manila University, said he is running for public office independently to ensure that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) sector is represented in the government. “I am running for senator as insurance (if) the Comelec does not see the light and does not accredit Ladlad," he said. The gay rights advocate was referring to the recent Comelec decision denying his party-list group accreditation based on “moral grounds." Remoto ran for senator in 2007 but was declared a nuisance candidate. Tatad, for his part, said he did not intend to participate in the national elections again but added that the times had called for it. “This is a critical time in history when we can’t say that I am done," he said, adding that there is a need to change what the Senate has become – a precinct where supposed legislatures just investigate and investigate. Tatad, 70, served as minister for Public Information under the Marcos regime from 1969 to 1980. He was also a senator from 1992 to 2001. Likewise, Bello said he has the credentials to be elected into the Senate, promising to end insurgency in the country through peaceful means. “I’ve been fighting for peace, I’ve been working for peace," he said. Bello, 65, served as secretary of the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 and from January 1998 to June 1998; Solicitor General from 1996 to 1998; chairman of the government panel talking with communist rebels from 2001 to 2004; and presidential adviser on new government centers from 2007 to present. As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, 81 presidential, 16 vice presidential, and 142 senatorial hopefuls had filed their COCs with the Comelec. - KBK, GMANews.TV