| Governor
George Hofer is a medical practitioner by profession. He finished
preparatory medicine at the Far Eastern University and transfered
to Southwestern University in Cebu City to complete his medical
degree.
He served for two terms
as mayor of the town of Titay in Zamboanga del Sur from 1992
to 1998. Since then, he became active in local government
circles, where he was convinced his expertise as a physician
will be needed, particularly in the push for local government
reforms.
In the elections of
1998, he won a seat in the lower house of Congress, representing
what was formerly the 3rd District of Zamboanga del Sur. His
congressional stint proved to be historic, after he successfully
authored and pushed for the passage of the bill, which would
later be known as Republic Act No. 8973, creating the Province
of Zamboanga Sibugay out of the 3rd District of the Province
of Zamboanga del Sur.
From this point, he
moved to his home province in Zamboanga Sibugay to serve as
its first governor.
In the 2001 elections,
he secured the governorship of the province. This mandate
was reaffirmed in 2004. Following his overwhelming victory
in the May 14, 2007 elections, Gov. Hofer is now on his third
term as Sibugay’s chief executive.
Although
Sibugay is an infant province, Gov. Hofer – an expert
in social and economic growth processes and a specialist in
the custody of health, believes that it has a lot of potentials
for acceleration. Farming communities are getting the top
priority in the extension of agricultural development and
technical assistance programs. The governor believes that
the eradication of poverty in the new province will push the
Mindanao peace agenda forward, the roots of insurgency being
no other than social and economic inequity.
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