Caesar Perez

Political career Mayor of Los Baños (2001–2010) Perez was successfully elected as mayor of Los Baños in 2001. He was re-elected in 2004 and in 2007.

Vice Governor of Laguna (2010–2013) Upon being term-limited as mayor, Perez ran for Vice Governor of Laguna in 2010 as the running mate of Laguna provincial administrator Dennis Lazaro, the son of outgoing Governor Teresita Lazaro, under the Lakas–Kampi–CMD ticket. Although the younger Lazaro lost to Pagsanjan Mayor E. R. Ejercito, Perez was elected as the provincial vice governor, serving from 2010 to 2013.

Mayor of Los Baños (2013–2020) Perez decided not to seek reelection as vice governor to run for mayor of Los Baños again under the Akbayan Citizens' Action Party in the 2013 elections, winning over incumbent Mayor Anthony Genuino. One of his staunch opponents throughout his mayorship was councilor Norvin Tamisin. He had just come from inspecting a project in Barangay Baybayin with Councilor Janos Lapiz when he arrived at the municipal hall that evening and asked for a masseuse. His younger brother, Ruel Perez, had previously been assassinated in May 2017.

On December 4, 2020, the Los Baños municipal council issued a resolution declaring a state of mourning in Los Baños up to December 12. On the same day, the Department of Justice instructed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the assassination and submit periodic updates on their progress. Media reports regarding the assassination regularly pointed out that Perez was mentioned during President Rodrigo Duterte's reading of a list of "narco-politicians" who are allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, which Perez's son Aldous believes had been the reason for his assassination. A month prior to his assassination, Perez went to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to be tested for drugs to prove his innocence.

In early May 2021, a Laguna police task force issued a murder complaint against former councilor Norvin L. Tamisin and government official Glenn Arieta based on eyewitness accounts of the incident. Tamisin had continuously denied his involvement in the assassination in interviews, expressing his bafflement on how he was placed by eyewitnesses in the crime scene. On October 22, the Los Baños Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 107 issued an arrest warrant for murder against Tamisin, and by November 2, Tamisin was captured in Baguio City by a joint team of Batangas police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) as the sixth most wanted person in Region IV-A. Tamisin later testified before Congress that he left Los Baños in order to protect his family from potential harm by the police and not to go into hiding.

Funeral Perez's remains laid at his residence in the days after the assassination. On December 8, they were brought to a funeral car for a five-hour procession through all 14 barangays in Los Baños before reaching the Los Baños Municipal Hall at 2:15 p.m. to be laid in state for four days. On December 12, Perez was buried at a cemetery.