Eric Morales Martinez (; born May 3, 1972) is a Filipino politician who is currently a member of

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from Valenzuela's 2nd district since 2016 and he was the House Deputy Speaker for 18th Congress from 2020 to 2022.

Early life and education

Martinez was born in Sampaloc,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. on May 3, 1972. In 1989, he enrolled at

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

for his college education, taking up Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Business Administration. However, he left the university in 1995 without completing the degree.

Early career

Martinez was president of Liturgy of Music of National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in 1995 and a music teacher at St. Patrick School from 1997 to 1998. He also became Board of Director of Philippine National Red Cross of Valenzuela Chapter. He attended primary and secondary education at Notre Dame of Greater Manila.

Political career

Martinez first served in Barangay Marulas, Valenzuela as member of

Sangguniang Kabataan A Sangguniang Kabataan (abbreviated as SK; ) is a community council that represents the youth in a barangay in the Philippines. Established to provide young people with a platform for civic engagement and participation in Local government in ...

from 1993 to 1997 and as

barangay kagawad A barangay councilor ( or ) is an elected government official who is a member of the Sangguniang Barangay (Barangay Council) of a particular barangay, the smallest political unit in the Philippines. Each barangay council has seven regular coun ...

from 1997 to 2001. He was later elected councilor of Valenzuela from the 2nd district in 2001, serving for two terms until 2007.

Vice Mayor

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, Martinez won his first term as Vice Mayor of Valenzuela City as a member of

Lakas–CMD Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats, abbreviated as Lakas–CMD and also known simply as Lakas, (and known as Lakas–Kampi until 2011) is a political party in the Philippines. Lakas–CMD is considered to be on the Centre-right politics, centre ...

, together with re-elected mayor

Win Gatchalian Sherwin Ting Gatchalian (born April 6, 1974), known as Win Gatchalian, is a Filipino politician and businessman serving as a Senate of the Philippines, Senator since 2016. A member of the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC), he previously ser ...

. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Martinez sought for his second term as vice mayor, this time as a member of

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, after Lakas–Kampi–CMD (the successor of Lakas–CMD) nominated Marcelino Morelos as the vice mayoralty candidate instead of him. Martinez was later re-elected. In 2013, he ran again for his third term as vice mayor of the city while former mayor

ran as representative of Valenzuela's 2nd district because he is unable to run for the position once more due to being

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

ed. Instead, his brother

Rex Gatchalian Rexlon Ting Gatchalian (born January 21, 1979) is a Filipino politician who has served as the 28th Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, secretary of social welfare and development since 2023. He previously served as the representative of ...

won

2013 Valenzuela local elections Local elections were held in Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Valenzuela on 13 May 2013, within the 2013 Philippine general election, Philippine general election. The voters elected local posts in the city: the Mayors of Valenzuela, mayor, vice mayor, ...

as mayor of the city.

Representative for the 17th to 19th Congress

17th Congress

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, Martinez was elected for his first term as representative for Valenzuela's 2nd district representative.

18th Congress

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, he was re-elected representative for Valenzuela's 2nd district representative, defeating his predecessor Magi Gunigundo. On July 10, 2020, Martinez voted to reject the franchise renewal of

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

together with Valenzuela's 1st district representative

Wes Gatchalian Weslie "Wes" Ting Gatchalian ( zh, t=張僑利, p=Zhāng Qiáolì; born August 11, 1980) is a Filipino politician who has served as the 27th mayor of Valenzuela since 2022. A member of the Nationalist People's Coalition, Gatchalian was first e ...

and 68 other congressmen. On October 6, 2020, Martinez was removed as chairman of the House committee on youth and sports development.

19th Congress

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Martinez sought re-election for his third and last term as Valenzuela's 2nd district representative. His candidacy received endorsement from President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

. He was re-elected to his third term in

, beating former representative Magi Gunigundo once again.

Senate bid

Upon being term-limited as representative, Martinez filed his candidacy to run in the 2025 Senate election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. Despite running an independent campaign, he remained as

Partido Demokratiko Pilipino The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP, ) is a Populism, populist List of political parties in the Philippines, political party in the Philippines founded in 1982. It was previously known as Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–L ...

's vice president for Luzon but chose not to be included in the party's senatorial slate to "discharge" himself from "any political bandages."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Eric Living people 1972 births Filipino educators Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Valenzuela, Metro Manila Metro Manila city and municipal councilors People from Valenzuela, Metro Manila Partido Demokratiko Pilipino politicians Liberal Party (Philippines) politicians Independent politicians in the Philippines Lakas–CMD (1991) politicians Nationalist People's Coalition politicians