How many more trucks have to rot under the sun?
How many more families have to sleep inside stranded buses?
How many more millions must the economy bleed before the government finally says — enough?
House Minority Leader Cong. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan is done with the excuses.
And frankly, so should we.
For decades, the San Bernardino Strait has been a recurring nightmare — a narrow stretch of water that turns into a national chokehold every time the winds rise and the waves swell. When the ferries stop between Allen, Northern Samar, and Matnog, Sorsogon, the country does not just experience “delays.”
It experiences paralysis.
And Libanan is calling it what it is: a failure of infrastructure.
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A GEOGRAPHIC CURSE — OR A FAILURE OF COURAGE?
The Philippines has long romanticized its archipelagic identity. But geography is not destiny. It is only destiny when leaders lack the will to confront it.
Every typhoon season, the same ugly images surface:
•Cargo trucks lined up for kilometers
•Vegetables and fish spoiling in containers
•Drivers losing income by the hour
•Tourists canceling plans
•Supply chains snapping like dry twigs
And yet, we treat this like a normal weather inconvenience.
“It’s rough seas.”
“It’s seasonal.”
“It can’t be helped.”
Wrong.
According to Minority Leader Cong. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan, it can be helped — and it must be.
His proposal? A Samar–Sorsogon Bridge that will permanently connect Luzon to the Visayas through an all-weather land corridor.
Not another band-aid.
Not another ferry subsidy.
A bridge.
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THIS IS NOT ABOUT CONVENIENCE. THIS IS ABOUT SURVIVAL.
The Allen–Matnog route is not some sleepy provincial crossing. It is a vital artery of the Maharlika Highway — the spine that links Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
When that artery clogs, the entire national body suffers.
Agricultural goods from Mindanao stall.
Manufactured products from Luzon pile up.
Logistics costs skyrocket.
Food prices rise.
And guess who ultimately pays?
The Filipino consumer.
Libanan is not pitching a vanity project. He is pushing what he calls a “multi-generational investment” — a strategic infrastructure move that could transform domestic trade the way the Maharlika Highway once did decades ago.
“But we have reached the limits of what ferries can provide,” Libanan argues.
He is absolutely right.
RoRo vessels were innovative in the 1970s mindset. But in 2026, when climate volatility is the new normal, betting national logistics on calm seas is reckless.
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THE PRICE TAG EXCUSE
Of course, critics immediately scream: “Too expensive!”
Multi-billion pesos. Massive engineering challenge. Risky waters.
But Libanan flips the argument:
“The real question is not how much it will cost to build the bridge. The real question is how much we continue to lose every year by not building it.”
That is the uncomfortable truth.
How many billions are lost annually from:
•Spoiled goods
•Idle fleets
•Delayed contracts
•Supply chain inflation
•Tourism disruption
We rarely compute the cumulative damage of inaction.
But it is there. Quietly draining the economy year after year.
And what is more expensive — one bold investment or perpetual bleeding?
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A TEST OF POLITICAL WILL
This is no longer an engineering debate. It is a leadership test.
Do we accept fragmentation as fate?
Or do we build our way out of it?
Minority Leader Cong. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan is daring the administration to think bigger — to stop treating inter-island vulnerability as an unavoidable inconvenience and start treating it as a structural defect.
Because that is exactly what it is.
The Philippines cannot dream of becoming a high-growth, logistics-efficient economy while its central transport spine depends on weather forecasts.
Every kilometer of stranded trucks is a reminder:
We are still hostage to the sea.
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TURNING LIABILITY INTO STRENGTH
The Maharlika Highway once reshaped domestic mobility. It stitched together major islands and unlocked economic corridors.
The Samar–Sorsogon Bridge could do the same — only this time, permanently.
Imagine uninterrupted cargo flow.
Predictable travel times.
Lower transport costs.
Faster agricultural delivery.
Expanded tourism circuits.
That is not fantasy. That is an infrastructure strategy.
Libanan sees what many policymakers hesitate to admit: the country has outgrown patchwork solutions.
Now the question is simple — will the government match his urgency?
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Because every typhoon season that passes without structural action is another reminder:
The cost of doing nothing is already enormous.
And the longer we delay,
The more we pay.
The bridge is not a luxury.
As Minority Leader, Cong. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan declares —
It is a necessity.
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