“THIS is a dream come true. This is beyond what we expected,” Bacolod City Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia said, as he thanked Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri for the P163-million museum and auditorium.

When it is implemented, Bacolod will be the only city in the Philippines that will have a world-class and iconic project like this, the mayor said.

Last year, Leonardia had requested a P30-million museum project from Zubiri. “Migz gave us more than five times of that amount. That is so much more than what we have asked for. That just shows how much Migz loves Bacolod,” the mayor said.

“For many, many years, we’ve tried several strategies to realize our dream of a Bacolod museum, and only now because of Sen. Zubiri that it is coming to fruition,” the mayor added.

Zubiri, who also grew up in Bacolod and whose father is from Kabankalan City, presented the perspective of the leaf-shaped environment-friendly museum and auditorium, at a press briefing in Bacolod recently.

The mayor also announced he is “calling a multi-sectoral assembly of relevant stakeholders to thresh out how best to operate and sustain this project.”

The mayor noted that when Senator Franklin Drilon was Senate President, and the congressman, mayor, vice mayor, and councilors of Iloilo City were working as a team, Iloilo City experienced unprecedented development.

If that “Drilon formula” worked, and now that we have Senator Migz Zubiri as the Senate Majority Floor Leader, this strategy can also work wonders for Bacolod, the mayor added.

Zubiri had presented the architectural drawings of the project to the mayor in a series of meetings before the senator’s formal announcement.

He said it will be Leonardia who will announce the site of the museum and auditorium on October 25, in time for the highlights of the ongoing 39th MassKara Festival.

The senator said construction of the museum and auditorium, with a gross floor area of about 5,000 square meters, and designed by the Lichauco Guilas and Villanueva Architectural Firm, will start next year and will be completed in two years.

He stressed the project will be constructed at no cost to the city government. The P163-million fund will be sourced from the Department of Budget and Management in the 2019 budget. (PR)