Camille Naredo

Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro during a press briefing in Malacañang Palace in Manila on July 18, 2025. Revoli Cortez, PPA pool/File

Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro during a press briefing in Malacañang Palace in Manila on July 18, 2025. Revoli Cortez, PPA pool

Article (news)

PCO- USEC CASTRO

Harlene Delgado

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178697529087820250821-claire-castro-pco.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro during a press briefing in Malacañang Palace in Manila on July 18, 2025. Revoli Cortez, PPA pool/File"/>Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro during a press briefing in Malacañang Palace in Manila on July 18, 2025. Revoli Cortez, PPA pool/File</div>MANILA — Malacañang on Monday urged the public to report to appropriate authorities potential abuse of village officials in granting financial aid to “Presidential Scholars”.This comes after a social media post made rounds online claiming that a village captain’s daughter was among the recipients of such grant.The “Presidential Scholar” program is a component of the Social Civic Projects Fund  where the Office of the President grants P200,000 to each barangay — P100,000 of which will be left to the discretion of village officials for development and safety projects while the other P100,000 will be used for education assistance of five scholars who will receive P20,000 each. Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire. Castro clarified that the selected scholars must be graduating college students and who are at risk of dropping out due to financial constraints.“Ang pumipili po ng scholars ay ang barangay officials kasama ang Sangguniang Barangay na mayroong education committee; at katuwang din po ng Office of the President ang Liga ng mga Barangay national office at ang DILG. Sila ang nagsasagawa ng programang ito,” she said in a briefing Monday, August 17.“At kung mayroon man na umaabuso, huwag po silang mag-atubili at huwag matakot na ireklamo po ito sa Liga ng mga Barangay national office at sa DILG; at maaari rin po itong iparating dito sa PCO at sa Office of the President dahil ang gusto po ng Pangulo ay mabigyan talaga ang nararapat at deserving students na mabigyan ng tulong,” Castro added. However, the Palace officer reserved her judgement on the reported incident, emphasizing that all &quot;deserving&quot; students can qualify for the program.“Pero ayaw din naman po nating bigyan ng anumang judgment iyong sinasabi na anak ng nasabing barangay officials baka kasi siya naman din ay deserving student, at hindi naman po namimili ito na kapag kamag-anak ng isang barangay official ay hindi naman maaaring maging beneficiary,” Castro said. “So, basta po deserving at kailangan iyong kaniyang requirements bilang deserving student ay naabot. So, iyon lang po naman ang gusto ng Pangulo,” she stated.

Malacañang on Monday urged the public to report to appropriate authorities potential abuse of village officials in granting financial aid to “Presidential Scholars”.

Malacañang on Monday urged the public to report to appropriate authorities potential abuse of village officials in granting financial aid to “Presidential Scholars”.

Palace calls on public to report potential abuse in ‘Presidential Scholar’ grant

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Palace calls on public to report potential abuse in ‘Presidential Scholar’ grant

Harlene Delgado,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 17, 2026 10:10 PM PHT

Read More:

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