Cesar Cortes 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.



Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (Chavacano and Spanish: Ciudad de Zamboanga, Tausūg: Dāira sin Sambuangan, Tagalog: Lungsod ng Zamboanga), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Zamboanga Peninsula region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 977,234 people.  It is the fifth-most populous and third-largest city by land area in the Philippines.  It is the commercial and industrial center of the Zamboanga Peninsula Region.On October 12, 1936, Zamboanga became a chartered city under Commonwealth Act No. 39. It was inaugurated on February 26, 1937.Zamboanga City is an independent, chartered city and was designated highly urbanized on November 22, 1983.Although geographically separated, and an independent and chartered city, Zamboanga City is grouped with the province of Zamboanga del Sur for statistical purposes, yet governed independently from it.