Former ombudsman Samuel Martires‘ wealth grew by more than P20 million in his six years in office, based on his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth or SALN.

He is the same ombudsman known for restricting access to SALNs which are public documents.

Martires had a net worth of P57 million (or P57,064,806) in 2018, or the year when former president Rodrigo Duterte appointed him ombudsman. In 2024, or six years into his seven-year term, the former ombudsman’s net worth grew to P78 million (or P78,192,000) — or P21 million more than his 2018 net worth.

The former ombudsman ended his term in 2025, and his SALN for the said year will be available only by 2026.

The rise in Martires’ net worth was triggered by his cash-on-hand, which includes bank deposits, bonds, and mutual funds. As a former associate justice, Martires is also receiving pension and retirement benefits from the judiciary, which could have boosted his cash investments.

This was also the case with former ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, whose net worth grew by millions during her term because of cash-on-hand, augmented by her pension and retirement benefits, due to her previous positions in government

Martires has no declared liabilities.

Cash, guns: Martires’ personal assets

For his personal assets, Martires’s declared properties include jewelries, cash, vehicles, and even paintings.

His cash assets got the lion’s share of his personal properties, fueling the increase in his total net worth throughout the years. He declared P31.9 million in cash in 2018 (or P31,918,806) then P48.3 million by 2024 — roughly an increase of P16 million.

After cash, Martires’ corporate shares got the biggest chunk. These shares were valued at P20 million from 2018 to 2021, then grew to P23.5 million in 2022 up to 2024.

In addition, Martires started declaring foreign currency only in 2019 or a year into his term. His foreign currency assets peaked in 2024 at P371,000 (or around $7,000).

Like his appointing authority Duterte, the former ombudsman also has an inclination toward guns. He started declaring firearms in his assets in 2020. Martires’ guns cost P350,000, from 2020 to 2024.

The former ombudsman’s SALNs only show the total acquisition cost of his properties (like jewelries and guns), and not their quantity nor individual cost.

Residential properties

While his personal properties grew overtime, Martires’ real properties stayed the same.

He declared his real properties amounting to P1,558,000 in total from 2018, with the same amount remaining unchanged until 2024.

Martires’ real assets are comprised of six properties in total, located in Quezon City, Rizal, Northern Samar and Samar (his hometown), and Baguio City. His most expensive property, at least based on acquisition cost, is a house and lot in Quezon City.

The SALN guidelines define acquisition cost as “the amount of money paid or the value of the
thing given in consideration to acquire or own it.”

“Real and personal properties of the official must be reported using the acquisition cost, as it is objective and verifiable,” one commercial lawyer told Rappler. “Acquisition cost is required because it can easily be supported by documents, such as a Deed of Absolute Sale and official receipts, which can easily be audited. It avoids speculation and makes it easier for the official to comply.”

Former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares explained to Rappler that SALNs seek to determine the amount of money shelled out by public officials for their properties, so acquisition cost was the tool to determine how much they had spent.

Under SALN guidelines, net worth is computed using the acquisition costs or amount/value of total assets (both real and personal), minus liabilities.

Meanwhile, Martires has three properties declared in his SALN, but their value was not included in the computation because they are tagged as inherited properties. Martires inherited two of the said properties in 1961, and the other one in 2005.

No acquisition cost shall be declared in inherited or donated properties, under SALN rules, so Martires had no such declaration for his inherited properties.

Henares said this was really the practice, adding that there will really be no acquisition cost for inherited properties because the declarant spent no money for the assets.

No business interest

Martires also did not declare any business interests or financial connections.

As for relatives in government, Martires declared only one — his son Josef Angelo Martires.

In his 2018 SALN, Martires declared that his son was working as head executive assistant under the Office of the Ombudsman. The younger Martires held the post until 2021.

From 2022 to 2023, Josef Angelo was at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), where he served as assistant secretary.

He became DAR undersecretary in 2024, serving as undersecretary for support services office up to the present.

Who is Martires?

Through his Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2020, Martires became known as the ombudsman who restricted access to SALNs under the repository of the Ombudsman. These documents are used to monitor the wealth of public officials.

SALNs under the Ombudsman’s custody include those of presidents, vice presidents, and head of constitutional bodies.

Due to Martires’ restriction, his and Duterte’s last few SALNs remained secret until recently when newly-appointed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla opened access to SALNs anew. (READ: Is Sara really the target? What’s inside Remulla’s memo that allows SALN access?)

While the sitting ombudsman in 2021, Martires sought “stringent penalties” — including a prison sentence of five years — for anyone who makes “commentaries” on the SALNs of government officials and employees.

Not only that, Martires also stopped the Office of the Ombudsman’s lifestyle checks since he was appointed by former president Rodrigo Duterte in July 2018.

The former ombudsman’s name was dragged into a recent controversy after it was revealed that he reversed the Ombudsman’s dismissal order against embattled Senator Joel Villanueva. The dismissal order came from his predecessor Morales, who ordered Villanueva’s dismissal from public service over the alleged misuse of P10 million in his pork barrel allocation in 2008.

Before his stint as the country’s top anti-graft buster, Martires served in the judiciary in several capacities. He was a presiding judge of Agoo Regional Trial Court Branch 32, then served as an associate justice at the Sandiganbayan.

At the anti-graft court, Martires became controversial because he was part of the court division that upheld the plea bargain agreement of former military comptroller Major General Carlos Garcia.

He was also the ponente of the Sandiganbayan’s decision that cleared the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, late Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Fabian Ver, and businessman Roberto Ongpin, over the alleged Binondo Central Bank scam.

Martires has close ties to Duterte. He was the former president’s first appointee to the SC in March 2017, so it came as no surprise that Duterte picked him to be his Ombudsman. – Rappler.com