History
The leadership of Zamboanga was in the hands of the commander of its Spanish garrison, Fort Pilar during the Spanish era.
When General Vicente Alvarez established Zamboanga as a sovereign republic, the leadership was vested upon its president.
Upon the firm establishment of American colonization and dissolution of the Republic in 1903, Zamboanga, as a municipality, was placed under the Moro Province, a semi-military government consisting of five districts: Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao, Lanao and Sulu. During this period, Zamboanga hosted a number of American regional governors, including General John J. Pershing, who was military commander/governor of the Moro Province from 1909 to 1914.
On September 15, 1911, the Legislative Council of the Moro Province passed Act No. 272 converting the municipality into a city with a commission form of government but was amended to be effective on January 1, 1912. Frederick Christopher Bader was appointed mayor of the city. After Bader's term ended in 1914, Victoriano Tarrosa, a native Zamboangueño was appointed to replace him.
Upon the establishment of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu in 1914, Zamboanga City was reverted into a municipality run by a municipal president.
City Charter of 1936
When the Commonwealth government was established in 1935, calls to convert Zamboanga into a city increased. On September 23, 1936, through Assemblyman Juan Alano, the National Assembly of the Philippines passed Commonwealth Act No. 39 making Zamboanga a chartered city consists of the present territorial jurisdiction of the municipality of Zamboanga, the municipality of Bolong, the municipal district of Taluksangay, the whole island of Basilan and the adjacent islands, i.e., the municipality of Isabela, the municipal district of Lamitan, and the municipal district of Maluso. It was later signed by President Manuel Quezon on October 12, 1936.
The charter made Zamboanga City as the largest city in the world in terms of land area. The charter also called for a government headed by a city mayor to be appointed by the President of the Philippines; and a city council to be composed of the city engineer, city treasurer, three elective councilors and two appointive councilors.
In a jubilant celebration held outside the City Hall, the new city government was formally inaugurated on February 26, 1937. Nicasio Valderrosa was appointed as mayor while Doroteo Karagdag, Agustin Natividad, Santiago Varela, Faustino Macaso and Pedro Cuevas, Jr. was appointed as councilors.
Commonwealth of the Philippines
Nicasio Siason Valderrosa (1937-1939)
Although born in Bacolod, Negros Occidental on October 11, 1891, Nicasio Valderrosa spent most of his career in Western Mindanao, mainly in Zamboanga and Basilan. In 1930, he was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the province of Zamboanga and served until his appointment as mayor in 1937.
At this time, the city mayor is directly appointed by the President of the Philippines. During his term, he was known for transferring the Moro village from the thriving tourist spot of Cawa-Cawa Boulevard to its present location in Campo Islam. He also constructed the road network in Basilan.
In 1939, Mayor Valderrosa on the request of President Quezon, was assigned to the newly created chartered city of Baguio, which was experiencing administrative problems as a fledgling city. He became also Basilan's first city mayor when it separated from Zamboanga in 1948.
The street that passes through the Zamboanga City Hall is named in honor of Mayor Valderrosa.
Pablo Rojas Lorenzo (1939-1940)
Pablo Lorenzo, born in 1887, was the son of a Spanish sergeant. Elected to the Philippine House of Representatives and to the 1934 Constitutional Convention representing Zamboanga, Lorenzo was appointed as city mayor in place of Valderrosa who was sent to Baguio in 1939. However, his term was cut short when in 1940, President Manuel Quezon appointed as Immigration Commissioner. He is known to be the father of the first woman mayor of the city, Maria Clara Lobregat.
He also served as Secretary of Education under President Elpidio Quirino and Secretary of Public Works and Communications under President Diosdado Macapagal.
The street that passes from Gateway Mall all through the Zamboanga City Port is named in honor of Mayor Lorenzo.
Agustin Lucero Alvarez (1940-1942)
A native Zamboangueño, Agustin Alvarez was appointed Governor of Zamboanga Province in 1917 until 1922. He would later be appointed city mayor in 1940 until his resignation due to poor health in 1942.
Gregorio Eijasantos Ledesma (1945-1946)
A well-known politician before World War II, Gregorio Ledesma was appointed as governor of the areas that remained free of the Japanese during the war. Immediately after the war, the government of Zamboanga City was left in disarray and disorganized. The Allied liberators were reluctant in appointed local leaders who were associated with the Japanese until Ledesma stood out as a Japanese resistance leader during the war. Because of such prominence, he was appointed Mayor in 1945 and tasked to restore and rebuild the war-ravaged city. Ledesma immediately appoint qualified civilian officers to fill important offices in the local government. He would only serve until 1946.
He returned to politics in 1958 to run for the city council but lost. However, he would be appointed to the council when a seat became vacant. He died on September 4, 1966, at the age of 73.
Third Republic of the Philippines
Pantaleon Pelayo (1946-1947)
A well-known lawyer of Davao City yet born and grew up in Zamboanga, Pantaleon Pelayo first entered politics when he was elected to the 1934 Constitutional Convention representing Davao City.
During the proceedings, Pelayo thundered the session floor by denouncing vast lands owned by the Japanese in Davao City. At that time, Davao was nicknamed Davaoaka or the little Tokyo of the Philippines because the Japanese had virtual control of the best agricultural lands and influence in local politics. Many thought it would be his downfall but was redeemed when the Convention inserted a provision limiting the landholdings of the Japanese contained in Article 13, Section 5:
"Save in cases of hereditary succession, no private agricultural land shall be transferred or assigned except to individuals, corporation, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain in the Philippines."
Pelayo's exposé caused Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Eulogio Rodriguez to order a full investigation of the Japanese landholdings in Mindanao which resulted in the cancellation of leases of public agricultural lands which were cultivated and developed by the Japanese.
Subsequently, President Manuel Luis Quezon appointed him mayor of Davao in October 1940 which he served until World War II came to the country in 1941. He took an active participation in the guerilla activities against the Japanese in Mindanao.
When Davao was liberated, he was immediately called to reorganize its local government. A few months later, President Sergio Osmeña sent him to Zamboanga and appointed him as City Mayor in 1945 to reorganize also its civil government there. Yet he served for only one year when President Osmeña was defeated for reelection in 1946 by Senate President Manuel Roxas. He then returned to Davao City for his law practice.
