Free bus ride project rolls out in Tawi-Tawi

COTABATO CITY — There is now a bus operating in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, transporting residents to schools, trading hubs and workplaces for free, reportedly the first of its kind in Bangsamoro region.

The “Libreng Sakay Project,” or free bus ride initiative, of a member of the 80-seat Bangsamoro parliament, lawyer Jet Lim, was launched last week and now covers the main thoroughfares of Bongao, the capital town of Tawi-Tawi. Lim serves as Tawi-Tawi's representative to the regional lawmaking body. 

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao covers the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, as well as the cities of Lamitan, Marawi and Cotabato, which serves as the region's capital.

Radio reports on Monday, May 25, stated that the regional lawmaker Lim, who also serves as spokesperson of the Bangsamoro parliament, initiated the project to help ease the financial burden on Bongao's Muslim and Christian residents amid complaints over the sharp increase in petroleum prices in the province and other BARMM provinces due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Lim and Tawi-Tawi Gov. Ysmael Sali are cooperating in community activities meant to cushion the impact on marginalized villagers of the spiraling cost of commodities as a result of the Middle East security crisis.

Sali said on Monday that he is grateful to Lim for launching the free bus ride project for Bongao residents.

“This is the first of its kind in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and it’s good. We appreciate this Libreng Sakay Project of a colleague in the parliament,” BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf Macacua, figurehead of the 80-seat parliament, said on Monday.

Students in Bongao have expressed their appreciation on Facebook accounts for the "Libreng Sakay" project.