Jimenez started out as a manager of a security agency that his father established soon after graduating from university in 1973. He also worked short-term as a disc jockey for a radio station in Quezon City before signing up with the Philippine Navy like his father in 1974.[5] As a young Navy lieutenant, he served as intelligence officer of the Naval Operating Forces (F-2). After spending eleven years in uniform, he applied for early retirement and joined his parents' maritime education businesses in Naga and Canaman in 1985.[4]
Jimenez ventured on his own and started the Mariners' Polytechnic Colleges in the city of Legazpi in 1985. He served as the school's first administrator and president while also serving as a two-term president of the Philippine Association of Maritime Institutions.[4] In 1991, he began active participation in civil society as a co-founder of a victims' rights group, Crusade Against Violence (CAV) with Lauro Vizconde and Romulo Villa. He then delved into political activism and co-founded the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption in 1998.[4][1] He also began writing for Pilipino Star Ngayon and People's Tonight and also hosted a television talk show on GNN.[9]
After having spent most of his career in the maritime education industry and anti-crime and anti-graft advocacy, Jimenez returned to public service on January 12, 2018. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as Chairperson of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission formed through Executive Order No. 43 issued in October 2017.[2] As PACC chair, Jimenez was in charge of handling the administrative cases against presidential appointees in the executive department and the investigations on alleged corruption and anomalies committed by officials of PhilHealth, Department of Public Works and Highways and Bureau of Customs in 2020.[10] On February 21, 2020, Jimenez succeeded Vice President Leni Robredo as Co-Chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs.[3]
Activism
In his autobiographical book Profile of a Crusader published in 2001, Jimenez narrated how the murder of his brother Jaime Jr. or Boboy by a drug syndicate in a case of mistaken identity in December 1990 prompted him to help organize the victims' rights group Crusade Against Violence (CAV) together with Romulo Villa.[8] Villa, the crusade's co-founder and chair, was the father of hazing victim Leonardo Villa.[9] Jimenez eventually served as the group's chairman and in 1998, together with Lauro Vizconde, formed a new criminal justice advocacy group, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).[2] Through the CAV and VACC, Jimenez rallied support for a return to capital punishment for heinous crimes.[8]
Jimenez was married to a fellow naval intelligence officer. They wed on January 8, 1987, at the Malate Church and had three daughters.[5] He died on January 29, 2021, of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 68.[1]
^ abc"About the President". Mariners' Polytechnic Colleges Foundation Canaman. Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
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