President Rodrigo Duterte appointed yesterday Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Samuel Martires as Ombudsman on the same day his predecessor Conchita Carpio-Morales retired.
Duterte made the announcement in his speech during the 69th anniversary of Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.
“We have a new Ombudsman. I signed the appointment of Justice Martires. He was strict in the Sandiganbayan but he is bright and he is a fair man,” Duterte said.
Martires, 69, will serve a seven-year term as Ombudsman, replacing Carpio-Morales who retired.
Martires finished his law degree at San Beda College. He and the President are members of Lex Talionis fraternity.
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Martires was appointed to the High Court in March 2017 after serving the Sandiganbayan for 12 years.
Like Martires, Morales was an associate justice of the SC prior to her appointment as Ombudsman in 2011. She was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III.
Martires was endorsed by 11 SC justices to the screening body Judicial and Bar Council.
He took up his Master of Laws from the University of Santo Tomas. He was admitted to the Bar in 1976.
He became an associate justice of the Sandiganbayan for more than 10 years, a presiding judge of the Agoo, La Union Regional Trial Court Branch 32 from July 2000 to May 2006.
He litigated cases for 13 years, from 1987 to 2000, handling mostly civil cases.
In the government, he was assistant department manager at the Ministry of Human Settlements from 1979 to 1984 and legal officer 2 at the Department of Public Works, Transportation and Communication from 1976 to 1979.
In 2011, Martires drafted the Sandiganbayan decision that junked graft charges against then Davao City Mayor Duterte over the demolition of a park built by his political rival, former Speaker Prospero Nograles.
After a year, Martires also penned the Sandiganbayan decision dismissing a P50-billion damage suit filed by the government against the family of former President Ferdinand Marcos, former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin and several others in relation to the operations of the so-called Binondo Central Bank during martial law.
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