President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. led the distribution of financial assistance to student scholars and rice aid to local residents at the Talay Gymnasium in Dumaguete City on Monday, August 17, underscoring his administration’s commitment to bringing government assistance closer to communities.
Marcos y handed over P20,000 in financial assistance to each of 15 student representatives of the Bagong Pilipinas Presidential Scholars, symbolizing the rollout for 250 scholars across Dumaguete City, Valencia, and Bacong. The Presidential Communications Office said the scholarship initiative is projected to benefit 2,785 students across 557 barangays in Negros Oriental.
About 2,230 residents, including farmers, fisherfolk, vendors, laborers, and other low-income earners, also received 10 kilograms of rice each under the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF)-Bagong Pilipinas Rice Program. The province-wide program aims to reach 386,673 beneficiaries.
In his address, President Marcos reaffirmed his administration’s support for Negrense families and the youth. He highlighted systemic reforms to streamline national aid delivery by transferring greater fund control directly to local government units (LGUs).
The president noted that the restructuring of the LGSF under the “Every Town to Benefit” program directly addresses bureaucratic bottlenecks, drawing from his own nine-year tenure as governor of Ilocos Norte.
“In my three terms as governor, I had not seen anything from LGSF. When I asked my friends—congressmen, governors, mayors—how to avail of this fund, no one could tell us because there was not much of a system,” Marcos said. “When I was elected as President, I said this is my chance to fix the system and put it really for the local governments.”
Under the revised framework, national authorities bypass traditional centralized surveys and approvals in Manila—which previously delayed aid by six months or more. Local officials are now granted autonomy to allocate resources based on immediate community needs, as local registries provide the most accurate assessment of vulnerable households, he said.
The President noted that the primary condition attached to the funding stream is the mandatory inclusion of the 10-kilogram rice distribution initiative for families in need.*
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