Palace threatens to extradite Jimenez

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye yesterday said the government is ready to take steps to forcibly extradite Rep. Mark Jimenez to the United States if he failed to leave voluntarily as promised.

He criticised Jimenez for not being a "man of his word" for threatening to stay here unless Justice Secretary Hernando Perez is punished for allegedly extorting $2 million from him.

"Jimenez's statements only confirm what we have known all along. That he is not a man of his word. And that everything that he has said and done are calculated to prevent his extradition to the U.S.," Bunye said.

On Saturday, Jimenez told reporters that he would resist efforts to leave for the U.S. on December 26 as he said that "this is a voluntary departure". "Since I am the one who volunteered, I should be the one to say when I want to leave," the House of Representatives member said.

The U.S. wants Jimenez extradited to face a multi-million dollar tax evasion case and fraud charges in Florida and illegal campaign contributions to the 1995 Clinton campaign that was filed in Washington.

His extradition case has been dragging in Philippine courts for three years and late last week, under pressure from a Supreme Court order cancelling a P1 million bail he earlier posted, he agreed to President Gloria Arroyo's appeal to turn himself in voluntarily to U.S. authorities by December 26, reportedly on the condition that Perez would be sacked from his post.

On Thursday, he made a visit to the U.S. embassy in Manila to announce his intentions to face the charges against him. On Saturday, he changed his mind after receiving information that Perez will keep his post.

"He is obviously a desperate man in the face of certain prosecution. The government sees through Jimenez's ploys and will take the necessary steps to extradite him if he does not leave voluntarily as he has promised," Bunye told reporters.

He said that Jimenez's claims that his only intention in extending his stay in the country is to ensure that Perez would be booted out of the cabinet might be difficult to achieve since it is the president who will decide who should stay in her cabinet.

Perez has gone on 30-day leave which is expected to end December 27, since Jimenez had gone public with his accusations against the justice secretary.