Cesar Cortez Climaco (February 28, 1916 – November 14, 1984) was a Filipino politician who served as mayor of Zamboanga City for 11 years over three nonconsecutive terms. A prominent critic of the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos, he was famed for his toughness in governance and colorful personality. He was also famous for his refusal to cut his hair until democratic rule was restored in the Philippines. He was assassinated by an unknown gunman in 1984.
Early years
Climaco was born in Zamboanga City, the son of a customs broker who later became a municipal councilor. He finished his primary and secondary education in his hometown, then moved to Manila together with his future wife, Julia, to pursue a college education. He enrolled in a pre-law course at the University of Santo Tomas and worked as a family driver to finance his studies. He then studied law at the University of the Philippines College of Law, working at the same time as a janitor at the Court of Appeals. Coincidentally, his older brother Rafael, also a law student at UP, became an associate justice of the Court of Appeals under President Marcos. Climaco earned his law degree in 1941, and was admitted to the Philippine bar later that year after having passed the bar examinations.
Political career
Climaco first entered political life when he ran and won a seat in the Zamboanga City council in 1951. Within two years, at the age of 37, he would be appointed as mayor of Zamboanga City, holding the post until the following year.
In 1954, Climaco joined the Operation Brotherhood, a group sponsored by the Jaycees to help provide for medical and relief needs to refugees in war-torn Vietnam. As the project manager and field coordinator based in Vietnam, Climaco earned the friendship of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and found his activities covered by Life magazine.
During his campaign for the mayorship, the melody of "O My Darling, Clementine" was used in "Ay si Cesar, Ay si Cesar Climaco" sung in Chavacano. It was sung during his funeral in 1984. Coincidentally, "O my Darling Clementine" was the love song of Cesar Climaco to his wife, Julia Floreta-Climaco.
Climaco first won election as Zamboanga City mayor in 1956, as a candidate of the Liberal Party, and served in such capacity until 1961.
Mayor of Zamboanga City (1956–1959 and 1959–1961) Climaco became a national figure during his first stint as Zamboanga City mayor. He became known for his personal courage, as shown by his willingness to venture alone out to hotspots and personally confront neighborhood toughs with threats of imprisonment. He maintained a similarly tough stance towards the city's policemen, once disarming cops he caught asleep at their posts during a surprise inspection. Climaco also maintained a harmonious relationship with the city's Muslim population, and cracked down on gambling.
As mayor, Climaco ordered the construction of Abong-Abong park in Pasonanca, which was planned to provide space for a camp site, housing projects, and a shantytown to house the city's homeless population. During this period, Zamboanga City earned the appellation as the cleanest city in the Philippines. One measure he enacted to earn such a reputation for his city was a directive requiring all horses in horse-drawn carriages to be tied with diapers beneath their tails as they plied their routes.
He struck a friendship with the mayor of Manila, Arsenio Lacson, who had earned a similar reputation for toughness and good governance. Climaco soon earned the nickname "Arsenio Lacson of the South", to which Lacson remarked that at the rate Climaco was going, the Manila mayor would soon be known as the "Climaco of the North".
Macapagal administration official
In 1961, Climaco gave up his post as mayor for an unsuccessful run for the Senate under the Liberal Party, in which he finished 12th. After his defeat, he was appointed by President Diosdado Macapagal as Commissioner of Customs. As Customs Commissioner, he brought in cadets from the Philippine Military Academy, vaunted for their idealism and honesty, to work in a Bureau of Customs which had long been reputedly corrupt. He again ran and lost for a Senate seat in 1963. Climaco then was appointed as a Presidential Assistant under Macapagal.
In 1965, Climaco tried for a third time to win election as a senator, but fell around 4,000 votes shy. In the same election, his political ally, President Macapagal, was defeated for re-election by a law school contemporary and friend of Climaco's, Senate President Ferdinand Marcos.