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''' Narciso José Anastasio Clavería y Zaldúa''' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]: ''Narcís Josep Anastasi Claveria i Zaldua''; 2 May 1795<ref name="baptism"/> – 20 June 1851) was a Spanish army officer who served as the [[Governor-General of the Philippines]] from July 16, 1844 to December 26, 1849.
DuringClavería hisis termwidely inrecognized the country, he tried to give the Islandsas a government as good as thatreformist ofand modernmodernizing Spainadministrator. He traveled through many provinces trying to learn the needs of Filipinos. He encouraged agriculture, improved the streets and suburbs of [[Manila]], and succeeded in helping the country.<ref name="Jernegan">Jernegan, Prescott Ford (1905) [https://books.google.com/books?id=rldFAAAAIAAJ "A short history of the Philippines: for use in Philippine schools"]. pp. 232-234. D. Appleton and Company, New York.</ref> He was given the title Count of Manila.<ref name="Repertorio"/><ref>[https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1848/4980/A00002-00002.pdf Real decreto concediendo el título de Castilla con la denominación de conde de Manila, vizconde de Clavería, para sí, sus hijos y sucesores legítimos á D. Narciso Clavería, gobernador y Capitán general de las islas Filipinas]. [[Gaceta de Madrid]]. no. 4980, 03/05/1848, pg. 2. (BOE-A-1848-2189)</ref> The towns of [[Claveria, Misamis Oriental|Claveria]] in [[Misamis Oriental]] [[Provinces of the Philippines|province]], [[Claveria, Masbate|Claveria]] in [[Masbate]] province, and [[Claveria, Cagayan|Claveria]] in [[Cagayan]] province were named in his honor.<ref name="Lakay">(2009-03-28). [http://www.lakay-lakay.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=55 "Brief History of Claveria"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713182245/http://www.lakay-lakay.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=55 |date=2011-07-13 }}. Lakay-Lakay, Official Claveria Website. Retrieved on 2011-06-03.</ref>
His grandson, [[Narciso Clavería y de Palacios, 3rd Count of Manila]], was an architect who designed the [[Toledo Railway Station]].
===Reforming the governors of the provinces===
From the earliest days, the chief of a [[Philippine province|province]] had acted both as governor and judge. He also engaged in trade, of which he had a [[monopoly]]. With themultiple duties of three men to perform, it was not strange that the governors were often poor rulers. They knew little of the law and therefore they sent all the important cases to Manila. For this reason there were often long delays in processing cases. Sometimes it required years to get justice and this encouraged the strong to oppress the weak. Clavería therefore ordered that the governors be men of two years experience in the law.<ref name="Jernegan"/>
Clavería mandated that the governors should not engage in [[trade]]. This decree was not fully obeyed for many years after the time of Clavería. At that time there were thirty-one provinces. The governor received a salary of from three hundred to two thousand [[Philippine peso]]s a year. The most common salary was six hundred pesos. In return for the privilege of controlling the trade of the provinces the governors paid the government as high as three thousand pesos a year. Yet they usually became rich. Men of high position tried to get these places. Sometimes they returned to Spain with fortunes, after a few years as governor. Often these fortunes were made by dealing unjustly or because of the monopoly they exerted in certain areas.<ref name="Jernegan"/>
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