By Brian Campued
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday led the “Bawat Bayan Makikinabang” program in Lucena City, Quezon, highlighting the administration’s commitment to ensuring that government programs reach communities across the country through strengthened support to local government units (LGUs).
Around 4,000 of the total 52,439 beneficiaries from vulnerable sectors and indigent families across Lucena City’s 33 barangays each received 10-kilo sacks of rice under the first tranche of Bagong Pilipinas Rice Program.
Funded through the Local Government Support Fund (LGSF), the program provides rice assistance to vulnerable households every two months while boosting local agriculture by allowing LGUs to directly purchase good-quality “palay” from local farmers and cooperatives.
About 165 Bagong Pilipinas Presidential Scholars also received P20,000 from the administration under the Socio-Civic Projects Fund (SCPF), where every barangay gets P200,000 to fund the education needs of scholars as well as the priority programs and projects in their respective communities.
As of July 17, 2026, the SCPF-Bawat Barangay Makikinabang Program has released an allocation totaling P6.97 billion to 34,830 barangays, according to the Presidential Communications Office.
In his speech at the Lucena Convention Center, President Marcos Jr. underscored the need to intensify support to graduating students as they tend to pause or stop their studies due to financial constraints.
“Kaya ito ang ginagawa natin ay bibigyan natin ng mga iskolar ng P20,000 at para gamitin ninyo sa inyong pag-aaral, sa pagtulong sa inyong mga sarili, kung ano man ang pangangailangan ninyo,” he said.
“Ang aking lang advice na binibigay, pagnakakausap po ang ating mga presidential scholar, ang aking ko lang binibigay na advice, sana ay mapakinabangan ninyo na mabuti itong tulong na ibinibigay ng Office of the President,” he added.
The President also assured the public that the government will sustain the program to continue supporting over 200,000 scholars nationwide.
“Hindi naman ito minsanan lang. We will be doing this every year para makatiyak na matulungan natin ang mga nangangailangan na tulong natin, mga estudyante, mga nag-aaral,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of continued collaboration between the national government and LGUs, President Marcos Jr. vowed to increase funding for LGSF for next year’s national budget, provided that the program becomes successful this year.
“At sinasabi ko nga sa ating mga local leaders, sinasabi natin pag pinaganda natin na mabuti ito, at nakita natin na mas maganda ang maging resulta kaysa sa dati ay sisikapin namin pag sa susunod ng budget ay dagdagan pa natin para maparami pa natin ng iskolar, maparami pa natin ng tulong sa ating mga bara-barangay,” he said.
“Kaya’t asahan po ninyo, ang pamahalaan ninyo ay hindi po malayo sa inyo, nandyan po sa tabi ninyo at pagka kayo ay nangangailangan ng tulong, gagawin po namin ang lahat upang tulungan kayo,” he added.
-jpv
