2M passengers served under OVP’s ‘Libreng Sakay’ —spox

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Thursday said that it has doubled the number of beneficiaries under its "Libreng Sakay" (free bus ride) program, with over 2 million passengers served since last year. 

OVP spokesperson Ruth Castelo said that nine of its buses are currently deployed across the country to offer free rides to commuters, covering routes in Metro Manila, Naic-Cavite, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, and Tacloban.

“Right now, as of June 30, 2025…we already served 2,025,275 people, passengers, ‘yung naisakay na natin [who rode our buses] as of today,” Castelo said in an ambush interview. 

“Kung everyday natin itong gagawin hanggang 2028, so naka six years din tayo at marami talaga sigurado ang matutulungan natin no’n. We have three more years, marami pa.”

(If we do this every day until 2028, then we have a total of six years, so I’m sure that we will be able to help a lot of passengers. We have three more years, many more will be served.)

In its 2024 accomplishment report, the OVP logged a total of 1,780,079 beneficiaries in all its programs, with the office’s “Libreng Sakay” program having the highest number of beneficiaries at 1,025,275.

The buses run from Monday to Saturday with two separate schedules: 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Castelo said that the OVP has made a proposal to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to extend the operations of the free buses to accommodate more passengers, especially during peak hours.

“Mag-submit kami lang ng mga more justifications para mapa-approve natin sa kanila. But they are also doing their own study kung feasible ‘yung magdagdag pa tayo ng oras, magiging six hours,” she explained. 

(We will submit more justifications to the DOTr so that they can approve our proposal. But they are also doing their own studies to see if it is feasible to extend the operation and make it six hours.) 

“Kaya lang…nakita niyo, kung magiging 4 to 10, that's six hours. Pero ‘yung nakita niyo kasi sa PITX kanina, kailangan natin aralin kung kailangan pa magdagdag or anong lugar ‘yung kailangan na dagdagan,” she added. 

(If it becomes 4 to 10 [am/pm], that will be six hours. But we still need to study if we need to add more hours or what area needs to have more buses.) 

Deployed

The OVP under the leadership of Vice President Sara Duterte launched its free bus ride program in August 2022, with only five buses initially deployed in Metro Manila, Davao City, Cebu, and Bacolod.

Back then, Duterte said the buses were lent to them by the private sector during the campaign period. After the 2022 elections, she said the OVP decided to deploy the buses instead in different parts of the country to support the DOTr’s “Libreng Sakay” under the government’s nationwide service contracting program.

Of the nine buses currently deployed, Castelo said that two were already bought by the OVP and the seven others were contracted and are expected to be returned to the owners after Duterte’s term as vice president ends in 2028. 

“‘Yung cost, maintenance, driver, ‘yung mga may kondukor pa, ‘yung mga maglilinis, ‘yung wi-fi, lahat ‘yan cost na ng Office of the Vice President,” the OVP spokesperson said. 

(The cost, maintenance, payment for the driver, conductor and cleaning staff, and the wifi—all of those are covered by the OVP.) 

“Parang isang buwan, parang P170-180,000 ‘yung gastos ng OVP para doon sa nine buses na ‘yun…operational expenses ng per bus,” she continued. 

(The OVP spends around P170-180,000 per month for the operational expenses of all the nine buses.) —VAL, GMA Integrated News