Francisco Claver

Francisco Funaay Claver, S.J. was a Filipino Jesuit, cultural anthropologist and human rights activist. As a Roman Catholic prelate, he is renowned for his writings on ecclesiology and social justice, and his efforts to institutionalize Vatican II reforms in the Philippine Catholic Church. As a human rights activist, Claver was one of the most persistent critics of the Marcos dictatorship among Philippine Catholic Church leaders. Claver was at the forefront of civil society groups that opposed the Marcos regime's World Bank-funded Chico River Dam project, which would have caused the displacement of Indigenous peoples living in the area. He was also responsible for drafting the 1986 Philippine bishops' statement, which was considered a key moment in the People Power Revolution that overthrew the Marcos dictatorship. Claver is considered one of the "intellectual minds" in the ranks of the bishops of the Catholic Church in Asia.