I'll be the contrarian. I have both. I'll wear the shorts for rides of up to 25 miles, and the bibs for anything longer. But, that's more a matter of the chamois as the pads in the shorts is not as good as the pads in my bibs.
In hot weather, I actually find the shorts are cooler as I can often feel the radiant heat through the black strap fabric. If you go with bibs, I'd get some with the white straps since you live in the tropics.