Francisco Jerónimo
Jerónimo in 2020
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication
In office
5 May 2020 – 1 July 2023
Prime MinisterTaur Matan Ruak
Preceded byFidelis Leite Magalhães
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Member of the National Parliament
In office
2001–2012
Personal details
Born (1963-04-18) 18 April 1963
Political partyFretilin
ProfessionTeacher
[1]

Francisco Martins da Costa Pereira Jerónimo (born 18 April 1963) is an East Timorese teacher and politician, and a member of the Fretilin political party.

From May 2020 to July 2023, he was the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication, serving in the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak.

Previously, he was a Member of the National Parliament of East Timor.

Early life and career

Jerónimo was born in Uatucarbau, an administrative post in Viqueque Municipality, Portuguese Timor (now East Timor). He has a degree in education and is a teacher by profession.[1]

Political career

In 2001, Jerónimo was elected from 13th place on Fretilin's list of candidates to the Constituent Assembly of East Timor, from which the National Parliament emerged in 2002.[2][3][4]

In the Constituent Assembly, Jerónimo spoke out against including a definition of the age group of children within the national constitution, and argued that it be specified in legislation. The definition was not included in the constitution.[5] In the National Parliament, Jerónimo was Vice President of the Committee for the Eradication of Poverty, Rural and Regional Development and Gender Equality (Committee E).[6]

Jerónimo in 2007

In the 2007 Parliamentary election, Jerónimo was re-elected from 21st place on the FRETILIN list.[7] During the subsequent legislative period, he was a member of the Committee for Health, Education and Culture (Committee F).[1] In the 2012 parliamentary election, Jerónimo did not stand as a candidate.[8]

As of 2009, Jerónimo was a member of the National AIDS Commission of East Timor.[9] From 2016 to 2020, he was Consul General of East Timor in Kupang, Indonesia.[10][11] In February 2018, he was elected as the new President of the East Timor Football Federation (Portuguese: Federação de Futebol de Timor-Leste (FFTL)), the governing body of football in East Timor.[12]

Following a change in the governing coalition, and the admission of Fretilin to the VIII Constitutional Government, Jerónimo was sworn in as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication on 29 May 2020.[13][14][15] In that capacity, he had a mission to ensure communication between the Government and the National Parliament, and to deal with public and private social communication institutions. He also assisted all ministries with the dissemination of their activities.[16]

In January 2022, an East Timorese news portal, Hatutan.com, published a story alleging that Jerónimo had been involved in a fraudulent project for the installation of television set-top boxes. The following month, the portal published a reply by Jerónimo to the story.[17][18][19][20]

At the end of February 2022, Jerónimo was re-elected as President of FFTL at the Federation's 7th National Conference, by 11 votes out of 21. During his victory speech, he pledged to bring football closer to the municipalities and administrative posts across East Timor, recruit more referees, establish more leagues, promote women's football, and commit to developing an international standard pitch to host regional matches.[21]

On 18 May 2022, Jerónimo initiated criminal defamation proceedings against Francisco Belo Simões da Costa, the editor-in-chief of Hatutan.com, under Article 285 of East Timor's Penal Code. The following week, the Timor-Leste Press Union (TLPU) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) both urged Jerónimo and the authorities to drop the case; the IFJ also criticised Article 285.[19][20]

Several months later, in October 2022, the Anti-Corruption Commission (CAC) arrested two people in connection with the set-top box project; one of them was an advisor to Jerónimo as Minister, and the other was his former secretary as President of FFTL. CAC agents also raided several offices and seized documents and other material under authority of search warrants. According the Portuguese news agency Lusa, the CAC was acting on suspicions of abuse of power and favoritism in relation to a contract that Jerónimo had signed with a company, Dili Eternal Innovation Information, for the set-top box project. Although Jerónimo refused to comment to Lusa on the arrests, he denied that there had been any favoritism or abuse of power, and accused the CAC agents of acting "with a lack of ethics".[22]

Soon afterwards, the government of East Timor published a statement asserting that no government member had been charged with any crime in connection with the CAC investigation, and referred to the immunity of the holders of sovereign bodies.[23]

At the Congress of the ASEAN Football Federation in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in November 2022, Jerónimo was elected as one of the three Vice Presidents of that Federation for the period 2022–26.[24]

On 4 January 2023, Jerónimo was questioned under oath and made a statement to the CAC about the set-top box project. He also confirmed to journalists that the CAC had told him that he, too, was a suspect, and had been indicted, in connection with its investigation into that project.[23]

Jerónimo's tenure as Minister ended, and his ministerial post was abolished, when the IX Constitutional Government took office on 1 July 2023.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "[Profile] Francisco Martins da Costa P. Jerónimo". National Parliament of East Timor (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 October 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "LISTA ALFABÉTICA DOS DEPUTADOS". National Parliament of East Timor (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  3. ↑ "Deputados Legislatura 2002-2007". National Parliament of East Timor (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Devereux, Annemarie (2015). Timor-Leste's Bill of Rights: A Preliminary History (PDF). Acton, ACT: ANU Press. p. 306. ISBN 9781925022391.
  5. ↑ Devereux, Annemarie (2015). Timor-Leste's Bill of Rights: A Preliminary History. Acton, ACT, Australia: ANU Press. ISBN 9781925022384.
  6. ↑ "Comissão E" [Committee E]. National Parliament of East Timor (in Portuguese). Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "[List of the candidates for the 2007 Parliamentary election]" (PDF) (in Tetum). Comissão Nacional de Eleições. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  8. ↑ Compendium of the 2012 Elections in Timor-Leste: As of 21 June 2012 (PDF). Dili: UNMIT and UNDP. 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  9. ↑ Crook, Matt (12 December 2009). "East Timor's ticking AIDS timebomb". AFP. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Konsul Timor Leste Beri Kuliah Umum di Stipas Kupang. Ingatkan soal Madu dan Racun. Maksudnya?" [Timor Leste Consul Gives Public Lecture at Stipas Kupang. Remind you about Honey and Poison. The meaning?]. Pos-Kupang.com (in Indonesian). 10 March 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  11. ↑ Canra, Liza (24 November 2016). "Konsul Baru Timor Leste Bertemu Gubernur NTT" [Timor Leste New Consul Meets the Governor of NTT]. lintasntt.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "Francisco Jeronimo eleitu ba prezidente FFTL" [Francisco Jeronimo elected as President of FFTL]. The Timor News (in Tetum). 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  13. ↑ Colo, Cipriano (29 May 2020). "Eight New Members Sworn into TL Cabinet". Tatoli. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  14. ↑ "Structure of the VIII Constitutional Government". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  15. ↑ "Timor-Leste's Eighth Constitutional Government (updated 17 July 2020)". La'o Hamutuk website. La'o Hamutuk: Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  16. ↑ "MAPCOMS marks 100 days of governance with the launch of a magazine". Government of Timor-Leste. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  17. ↑ "Ministru Asuntu Parlamentár no Komunikasaun Sosiál, Francisco Pereira da Costa Jerónimo ho kompañia DILI ENTERNAL INNOVATION INFORMATION, Lda Abandona Projetu Set-top Box RTTL,E.P iha Díli" [The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication, Francisco Pereira da Costa Jeronimo, and the company DILI ENTERNAL INNOVATION INFORMATION, Lda Abandon a Set Top Box Project RTTL, E.P. in Dili.]. Hatutan.com (in Tetum). 28 January 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  18. ↑ Simoes, Francisco Belo (8 February 2022). "Direitu Bá Resposta Husi MAPKOMS Kona-bá Projetu Intalasaun Set-top Box RTTL,E.P" [National Right to Response by MAPCOMS on the Set- Top Box Intalation Project RTTL, E.P.]. Hatutan.com (in Tetum). Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  19. 1 2 "IFJ urges Minister Francisco Jeronimo to immediately withdraw defamation case". The Oekusi Post. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Journalists in Timor-Leste face charges for exposing corruption and abuse, tainting media freedom - CIVICUS - Tracking conditions for citizen action". monitor.civicus.org. Civicus. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  21. ↑ Martins, Filomeno (26 February 2022). "Francisco Jerónimo re-elected as the new president of Timor-Leste's Football Federation". Tatoli. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  22. ↑ "Investigação anticorrupção ligada a membro do Governo de Timor-leste já deteve duas pessoas em rusgas" [Anti-corruption investigation linked to a member of the Government of Timor-Leste has already detained two people in raids]. Expresso (in Portuguese). Lusa. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  23. 1 2 "Timor-Leste: Minister questioned under oath, indicted". Macau Business. Lusa. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  24. ↑ Martins, Filomeno (13 November 2022). "Francisco Jerónimo elected as AFF Vice President". Tatoli. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  25. ↑ Martins, Filomeno (30 June 2023). "The list of structure of IX Constitutional Government announced in Official Gazette". Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

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