FACT CHECK: Image of bullet train in Bicol is AI-generated, no Albay trip yet 

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Although most of the comments in the original post mirror awareness that the bullet train has not yet been launched in Bicol and that the AI-generated photo was just used to depict what it would look like in the future, some still mistakenly think that the photo is real

Claim: A bullet train has already started operations in Bicol. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The post, which has already received 55,000 reactions, 3,400 comments, and 4,600 shares, gives commuters in Bicol false hope, leading them to believe that they now have a faster and more convenient transport alternative. 

The commenter replied, “Wow madali [na] makapunta. Anong station po ang pinak[a]malapit na babaan kapag papunta [diyan] [sa] pasyalan?” (Wow, it’s now easy to get there. What’s the closest station to get off at when going to the tourist attraction?)

Where it all started: The proliferation of AI-generated images of bullet trains in Bicol started when Yassi Pressman, the girlfriend of Camarines Sur 2nd District Representative-elect Luigi Villafuerte, endorsed Bicol Saro Party-list through a 30-second promotional video. 

According to Pressman, if the said party-list wins, one of its programs is to bring a bullet train to Bicol. Through this bullet train, the advertisement video claimed that the travel hours from Bicol to Quezon province will last only for one hour while the trip from Bicol to Manila will just take three hours. The bus trip from Bicol to Quezon usually takes six to eight hours, while Bicol to Manila takes almost 12 hours. 

Bicol Saro did win in the 2025 elections, placing 33rd. 

Is it possible?: Governor-elect Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte (also former Camarines Sur 2nd District representative) has long been pushing the idea of a bullet train in Bicol. On May 21, 2025, Villafuerte shared an update about train transportation but not directly about the bullet train.

He said that negotiations with various countries willing to fund the Manila to Bicol South Long Haul project are now ongoing. “We hope and pray that whoever the administration decides to partner with [in] this project will proceed with a high speed train like in Vietnam,” he wrote in a post, attaching a link to an article about a high-speed train in Vietnam. 

He repeatedly mentioned in his posts that having a bullet train in Bicol is possible if people will stop thinking that it’s not. But some Bicolanos are doubting its feasibility mainly because of safety concerns. 

On Saturday, May 24, a van crashed into a PNR train in Nabua, Camarines Sur, where 14 individuals were hurt. In September 2024, at least 14 people were involved in three train accidents in Albay, including a 17-year-old female who died in Barangay Inarado, Daraga town, on September 10, 2024. – Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com

Angelee Kaye Abelinde, a campus journalist from Naga City, is a second-year Journalism student of Bicol University and the current copy editor of The Bicol Universitarian. She is a graduate of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow of Rappler for 2024. 

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