Frank Chavez, 66

MANILA, Philippines - Former solicitor general Frank Chavez died Wednesday night. He was 66.

Chavez, a known critic of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, died of a stroke at 10:20 p.m. at the Medical City Hospital in Pasig City, where he was undergoing treatment for lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that was diagnosed in 2009.

His daughter Ingrid said Chavez had been hospitalized since July.

“In the course of his treatment, he developed complications and one of them was the stroke. This was the immediate cause of his death,” she said in a phone interview.

She said her father was cremated at 2:45 a.m. yesterday. His remains were brought to Santuario de San Antonio Parish in Forbes Park in Makati and would be buried at the Heritage Park in Taguig on Sunday.

“Frank Chavez died on Marcos’ birthday. I think Chavez would be chuckling at the irony,” Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te said in his Twitter account.

Chavez was solicitor general from 1987 to 1992 during the administration of the late former President Corazon Aquino. He was known for pursuing cases against the Marcoses, including human rights violations during martial law.

He ran but lost in the 1992 senatorial elections.

He was a candidate for ombudsman to replace Merceditas Gutierrez in 2011 but withdrew his nomination, saying his family “prevailed” upon him to do so.

Last year, he was nominated as Supreme Court chief justice.

Chavez was also instrumental in the removal of one of two members of Congress in the Judicial and Bar Council after he filed a petition with the SC questioning the eight-member composition of the council.

Also a vocal critic of the previous administration, Chavez charged former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with plunder.

Earlier this year, he was the lawyer of the sister of President Aquino and popular celebrity Kris Aquino in the temporary protection order she filed against her ex-husband, basketball player James Yap.

Chavez was born on Feb. 6, 1947 in Sagay, Negros Occidental. He married Ma. Juanita Rivera.

He finished his law degree at the University of the Philippines in 1971. He used to work for the Sycip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan Law Offices and later became a founding partner of Chavez Laureta & Associates Law Office.

He was a member of the board of directors of Petron-Aramco during the Ramos administration, and member of the board of directors of Philippine Airlines, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Central Cement Corp. during the former Aquino administration.