Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri believes that the Negros Island Region (NIR) will usher in the "golden age" for Negros.
In a statement on Thursday, June 13, following President Marcos' signing of the NIR Act.
Zubiri said that the NIR is going to bring unprecedented growth and development to Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Siquijor, as they are all merged into one administrative region.
The Negrense senator said the NIR Act is one of the priority measures of the Marcos administration.
“The NIR has long been a dream of mine and of my fellow Negrenses,” said Senator Zubiri, whose paternal family hails from Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. He authored and co-sponsored the Senate bill on the Negros Island Region, Senate Bill No. 2507.
“We have long wanted to have our own region, with our own government offices readily accessible to our people,” he explains
Prior to the signing of the NIR Act, Negros Occidental was part of Region VI while Negros Oriental and Siquijor were under the governance of Region VII.
This administrative setup has long been considered costly and inconvenient for residents of the three provinces who have had to travel to Iloilo and Cebu to transact with their respective regional government offices.
“With the NIR, we will be able to bring the government closer to our people,” he said. “We will also be able to attract more investors to come to the region, since the merging into one administrative region is set to improve our ease of doing business. More investments, more jobs, more growth.”
“I thank the President for signing this into law, Senator JV Ejercito for championing this with us in the Senate, and of course our NIR representatives and officials who worked closely with us in crafting and defending this law," he said.
"This is going to bring in a wave of development into the province, and mark the start of new golden age for Negros. Being that this was one of the last important measures that I helped steer on the floor and during the bicam before I stepped down as SP, it makes me proud to have my signature on that law,” he added.