Iloilo City ‘not included’ as ‘Love Bus’ pilot testing

By Alex P. Vidal

“Some people don’t like long bus rides, but I love them. There’s sort of a sense of solitude.” – Sam Hunt

IT seems the Marcos Jr. administration has the penchant of reviving public transportation systems that have long been dead if not considered obsolete.

And we have been consistently opposing it for reasons that we believed we were supposed to move forward, not backward.

First, President Marcos Jr. floated the idea of reviving the almost-forgotten Panay Railways in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 25, 2022.

We had misgivings about this plan and called it as “Patay” (dead) Railways. So far, nothing has been heard about the project after three years.

And in the president’s SONA on July 28, 2025, he disclosed the plan to revive the Bus Love, which was first conceptualized by his mother, then First Lady Imelda Marcos in 1976.

Again, we doubt if this is necessary or feasible today and can benefit the riding public now that gridlock in traffic is really a gigantic problem in the metropolitan areas and has been giving terrible stress and inconvenience to many motorists.

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We reiterate that not everything the President had announced in his Sona would turn into gold.

Sometimes those that weren’t openly mentioned are the ones on the priority list; those constantly mentioned aren’t even in the radar and are, therefore, not taken seriously.

Proposals and suggestions, yes. Plans and “priorities,” maybe. Implementation and demonstration, dream on!

Mr. Marcos Jr. announced that the proposed revival of Love Bus will offer free rides and pilot testing is already ongoing in Cebu City and Davao City.

Good that Iloilo City was not part of it.

The problem is not lack of transportation; therefore, Love Buses may not be necessary as they will only add confusion and congestion in the roads.

The problems are inadequate infrastructure, high vehicle density, inefficient public transportation, rapid population growth, and poor traffic management.

These issues are compounded by factors like road debris, accidents, and even weather conditions.

Not lack of buses, cabs and trans. In fact, we already have abundance of them.

First launched in January 1976, the reason given why it was discontinued in 1990 was reportedly due to significant losses incurred by Metropolitan Manila Transit Corporation (MMTC), was a government-owned and controlled corporation that operated as a transport company in Metro Manila.

Traffic was not yet so bad then compared nowadays so that by May 1977, the Love Bus had reportedly carried over 5.34 million passengers, with a study in February 1976 stating that 19 percent of its passengers used to commute by car.

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In 2022, we casted doubts if the storied but “dead” railway system would be able to rise again like Lazarus post Marcos Jr. administration thereafter. Since its engines “conked out” or were silenced in 1983, efforts to bring it back to life have been proven to be futile.

We always have serious misgivings each time the government announced the construction or rehabilitation of mega-million worth of public works projects ahead of securing the funds needed to start the engine.

It’s like pushing the cart ahead of the horse. There’s no joyride in the locomotive.

Let’s take a cue from the recent announcement from the Department of Transportation (DOTr), which unceremoniously doused a cold water to the railways’ proposed revival: 1.“There are no funds yet…” and 2. “Its revival is not a priority of the agency.” Loud and clear.

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Even the proposed revival of the 117-kilometer “Patay Railways” might remain as cold skeletons in the cemetery unless the cash-anemic government can set aside or look for the funds and prioritize it over the other “more urgent” infrastructure projects in Luzon and Mindanao.

Through the combined forces of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Budget, and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), anything can still be possible, but probably not in the timeline of the present administration.

It’s always been the grand plans, the big dreams, the excitement and shockwaves attributed to the grand plans and big dreams, but not the implementation—especially if funds are scarce and may not be immediately available.

Mega-projects of such magnitude may need billions of pesos for immediate implementation.

The limited public funds might not be able to sustain their grandeur unless the government can secure fresh loans from foreign sources and hack out a partnership with the private developers without prejudice to the interest of the government.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)