Zubiri pushing for bridge linking Negros and Panay

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — Senator-elect Juan  Miguel Zubiri the other day pledged to help work on the realization of a bridge that will connect the islands of Negros, Guimaras, and Panay, which has been a long-standing dream of Negrenses.

Negros Island is composed of the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, while Panay Island consists of the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz. Guimaras is an island-province.

“I will never stop fighting for the Negros-Guimaras-Iloilo bridges before the national government, especially with the Department of Budget and Management. You will hear me asking for that,” said Zubiri during a press conference in Bacolod City Wednesday.

Zubiri said Japanese, Korean, and Chinese investors have approached him, offering to fund the project. “It could be done not necessarily from our own funding but through public-private partnerships,” he told reporters.

?Zubiri, whose father has roots in Kabankalan City, said he visited Negros Occidental to thank the Negrenses for their big help in his victory in the senatorial race in the May 9 elections. He got the second highest votes in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, which composed the Negros Island Region.

?On the issue of having a federal government, as advocated by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, Zubiri said he believed that the NIR could stand alone as a federal state because of the sugar industry and the tourism potentials of the region. 

Zubiri he is backing federalism because each state like the NIR could have its own path unlike in the present form of government where everything is centralized in Metro Manila. (FREEMAN)