Saying "I Love Yous"

So I am sitting here in the library across a guy who apparently got a call from his sister. He ends the call by saying "I love you, sis!". I thought that was kinda sweet and funny at the same time. Our family doesn't really say these words that often. My mom recently started saying it more often to me over the phone. I sort of tease her about it so she eventually stopped. I don't know. Maybe it's just so obvious that we love each other that actually saying it in words is redundant? I guess it is nice to hear once in a while. But to be expected at the end of every phone call- I don't know about that. So I pose a question to my Filipino friends and family- is it just our family who doesn't say "I love yous" to each other that often? Or is it part of our culture that we're just not very verbal with our love for our families? I even tried to think about my past 3 romantic relationships how often I said "I love you" but I can't seem to remember or I have chosen to forget hehe. I do remember the first guy playing his guitar and singing More than Words by Extreme quite often.