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Aragoncillo admits spying for Arroyo foes Estrada, Lacson named co-plotters vs President NEWARK, New Jersey—A Filipino-American intelligence analyst admitted Thursday that for five years he passed top secret information gleaned from White House and Federal Bureau of Investigation computers to conspirators he said were trying to overthrow President Macapagal-Arroyo. Leandro Aragoncillo, 47, a naturalized US citizen who was born in the Philippines, pleaded guilty to a four-count indictment. The conspirators used code words to refer to various people, including calling Ms Arroyo "The Penguin," Aragoncillo admitted. Aragoncillo, shackled at the feet and wearing green jail garb, himself did not...

Excerpt - NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A former White House official who took top secret documents from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office and gave them to opposition figures in the Philippines was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison. Philippine-born Leandro Aragoncillo, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, pleaded guilty last year to taking the documents that included details on threats against U.S. government interests and military personnel in the Philippines. Aragoncillo worked on the security detail assigned to the vice president from 1999 to 2002, where he held a top security clearance. He later took a...

Mark Jimenez released from US Federal prison Former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez has been released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania in the United States, ABS-CBN North America Bureau reported Wednesday. Public information officer Mike Furman confirmed that Jimenez was released by the Federal Correctional Institution in Allenwood, Pennsylvania on December 13, 8 a.m. (9 p.m. in Manila). Jimenez (also known as Mario Crespo) was immediately turned over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security. He said Jimenez is now "a detainee in the custody of ICE." The ICE media...

Heard through the grapevine - Former congressman Mark Jimenez was forced to spend a few more weeks in the US penitentiary after he was found to have distributed "farewell gifts" to prison guards as well as fellow inmates.

AT LEAST two members of the House of Representatives are seeking "custody" of former Manila Representative Mark Jimenez from the United States amid reports his release from a federal prison and subsequent deportation to the Philippines had been delayed because of an "infraction" he allegedly committed while serving his 20-month jail term. Jimenez, whose real name is Mario Crespo, was originally scheduled for deportation last Tuesday but was not aboard the plane that was supposed to have flown him to Manila. Jimenez was jailed in Pennsylvania after being convicted of tax fraud and illegal campaign contributions. A local television...

MARK JIMENEZ is coming home on his own sweet time, according to his friend, Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay. The ex-jailbird was expected back from the United States yesterday, but Pichay yesterday said he was probably still staying with family members in Florida. "He's resting, sleeping, enjoying his time [out of prison]," Pichay said of the controversial former representative of Manila. Jimenez (real name Mario Crespo) has just completed a 20-month jail sentence for making illegal campaign contributions and committing tax fraud in the United States. Along with other lawmakers, Pichay had earlier planned to meet Jimenez at...

CHICAGO, Illinois — The headline of another newspaper yesterday was a self-fulfilling prophesy: "No red carpet, no yellow ribbons for Mark Jimenez (MJ)." If the information of the US Bureau of Federal Prisons is to be believed, the much-anticipated return of the former Manila congressman on Tuesday, Nov. 22, will have to wait. His projected release is reset to Dec. 13, 2005. In a previous posting of Jimenez’s release by the US Bureau of Federal Prisons, his original "projected release was Nov. 5, 2005." This was exactly the day of the 20th month of his imprisonment in the Federal...

CONTRARY to expectations that he would be giving some prominent people sleepless nights, it would be a more religious, more media-shy Mark Jimenez who will be coming home on Tuesday after nearly two years in a US federal prison, friends said yesterday. "He would like to devote his time to God's words," one of the friends told the Inquirer. But that doesn't mean Jimenez would be all forgiving, the friend indicated. Except Nani "He has said he has already forgiven all those who have crossed him, except Nani," he said, referring to former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez whom Jimenez...

From Tempo.com.ph - US sends Mark Jimenez back home in November By JEAMMA E. SABATE Former Manila (6th District) Congressman Mark Jimenez will be deported in November to the Philippines from the United States after serving his sentence in a federal prison, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday. This was confirmed by lawyer Ricardo Diaz, chief of NBI Interpol Division, saying that Kevin R. Peters of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has advised the bureau of Jimenez's return to the country. Jimenez, 57, whose real name is Mario Crespo, is scheduled to be deported on November 21....

Thursday, September 29, 2005 Jimenez eyes Atienza’s post By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter CONTROVERSIAL former representative Mark Jimenez of Manila is planning to run as mayor for Manila when he returns to the country in November after serving out his two-year community service in the United States owing to criminal charges. A congressman on Thursday gave this information to The Manila Times, but added that Jimenez may choose not to return to the country. The source, who refused to be identified, said the businessman’s “family and relatives” are convincing Jimenez to stay in the Bahamas for good. The former...

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