The earliest recorded mention of Sibugay was in
Historia de las islas de Mindanao, Jolo y sus adyacentes (1667) by the Spanish priest
Francisco Combés, which describes the village of "Sibuguey" along the river Sibuguey. Zamboanga Sibugay was formerly part of
Zamboanga del Sur. Attempts to divide Zamboanga del Sur into two separate provinces date as far back as the 1960s. Several bills were filed in the
Philippine Congress, but remained unacted. It started in the 1960s when several bills were filed in Congress such as House Bill No. 17574 by the late Rep. Vincenzo Sagun, HB No. 8546 of Congresswoman Belma Cabilao, HB No. 341 through Congressman Vicente M. Cerilles and the Batasan Parliamentary Bill sponsored by parliament members (Antonio Ceniza, Manuel M. Espaldon, Hussien Loong, Kalbi Tupay, and Minister Romulo Espaldon). All of these bills were relegated to the recesses of the archives. In 1993, the Zamboanga Occidental Movement ushered in a renewed political consciousness among the people of the 3rd district of Zamboanga del Sur. The movement was so intense that a People's Initiative was conducted simultaneously with the May 12, 1997 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. In this exercise, the majority of the voters signed in favor of forming a new province. It was then that Representative
George T. Hofer sponsored House Bill No. 1311. He managed to push the bill in Congress and gave it a new identity by naming the proposed province as
Zamboanga Sibugay. He lobbied for its approval in the Senate and the new province was finally created by
Republic Act No. 8973 signed into law by
President Joseph Estrada on November 7, 2000. On February 22, 2001, Republic Act No. 8973 was ratified through a plebiscite conducted in 44 municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur and Pagadian City.
Zamboanga del Sur Third District Representative George Hofer was appointed and later elected as its first governor in 2001. ==Government==