SHOULD THAT reunion take place, there would be no weeping within Malacañang’s power circle, in which a dislike for Jimenez is shared. In truth, the only one among the President’s friends that Jimenez has no problem with is Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. But that may be partly because, as Cojuangco noted in a separate interview, Jimenez has yet to have any business dealings with him, and that they had only one lunch together so far.

It’s another story altogether with many of those who have spent more time with Jimenez. Although the power brokers in the Palace tend to bicker among themselves, they are united in their concern about the President’s fascination with Jimenez.

Even those belonging to the “hollow bloc,” as those who do not identify with any Palace faction are called, are wary of Jimenez. Foreign Secretary Doming L. Siazon worries over what the effects on Philippine-U.S. relations would be if Jimenez bucks the extradition request. Trade and Industry Secretary Jose Pardo, meanwhile, is leading the investigation on the use of Government Security and Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System pension funds—said to be Jimenez’s bright idea—in recent corporate takeovers.

It was because of a P15-billion backing from GSIS and SSS that Equitable Bank, for instance, was able to buy the Philippine Commercial International Bank (PCIBank). The move propelled Equitable from No. 10 to No. 2 in the banking industry. According to the regional newsmagazine Far Eastern Economic Review, Jimenez may have turned a neat profit from the undertaking as well. The Review says Jimenez has made good business out of the pension funds’ activities by selling off his own holdings in firms whose shares rose after the GSIS and SSS bought into them.

Although the President credits Jimenez for the vitality of the stock market immediately after the PCIBank acquisition by the Equitable-GSIS-SSS team, some Cabinet members snort that it was the use of the vast resources of state-run pension funds, and not by some action by Jimenez himself, that moved the markets.

A Malacañang insider says Jimenez is now unpopular because he is too aggressive and has “stepped on so many powerful toes.” These include the foot digits of Manny Zamora, who was said to be displeased when Jimenez cut into the $750-million Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company-First Pacific merger he had been laboring over. Jimenez has also reportedly upset presidential son Jose Victor ‘JV’ Ejercito and his mother, Guia Gomez. It was JV who wrote an e-mail to his friends in August in which Jimenez was described as a “good con artist.” JV added, “I do not exactly like the guy so I might as well not talk about him.”

JV was supposedly alarmed when Jimenez tried to wrest control of Bingo Bonanza, the bingo games in SM malls, headed by JV’s friend, Alfredo Benitez, son of the unlamented Jose Conrado ‘Jolly’ Benitez who was once Imelda Marcos’s deputy in the Ministry of Human Settlements. As for Gomez, talks are that some business deal is again the cause of the rift. On the other hand, Jimenez is rumored to be on really good terms with Laarni Enriquez, one of the president’s long-time women companions.

Probably because Jimenez seems to be all over the place, it has been easy to believe rumors that he was buying into the media. He was said to have offered to purchase the Manila Times from the Gokongweis. Many even insist that the Times’s new owners are really his dummies. Jimenez denies any interest in the Times, but he admits having bought ABS-CBN shares.

For all his wealth and clout, however, Jimenez may find that the U.S. government could be a tenacious adversary. Obviously finding comfort and protection in Manila, Jimenez surrendered his green card to the U.S. Embassy last April. But Washington isn’t letting go of its extradition request.

As for Malacañang, Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu says before the President delivered his July 26 State of the Nation Address, his economic team met and assessed the issues confronting the administration. One of them was cronyism, and one of the names mentioned was that of Jimenez. Espiritu said they listed down the pros and cons about Jimenez. Apparently the cons outweighed the pros.

Yet even then, a Palace insider says it took the strong possibility that Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush would be the next U.S. president for Estrada to be convinced that he had to stop protecting Jimenez from the U.S. extradition request. Estrada was told that a Republican in the White House would view with great disfavor his protecting a Democrat election contributor. Between the interest of the country and his friend, Estrada seems to have decided to let justice take its course.