Dumaguete City is set to host two of the Philippine government’s most senior officials on Friday, August 14, as Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto and House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III arrive for separate but overlapping engagements that will channel hundreds of millions of pesos in national assistance to Negros Oriental — and open the House of Representatives’ consultative program to Visayas audiences for the first time.
Recto’s Packed Morning Across Three Venues
Executive Secretary Recto’s schedule in the city is compressed into a single hour — from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. — yet covers three distinct activities at two venues, according to the schedule released by the Office of the Executive Secretary.
At the Convention Center’s 3rd Floor Conference Room, Recto will personally distribute scholarship funds to 100 Presidential Scholars representing Negros Oriental. Immediately afterward, he proceeds to the Convention Center’s Plenary Hall, where he will hand over checks from the Socio-Civic Projects Fund to representatives of each of the province’s 557 barangays, with mayors and other local officials in attendance.
Recto’s morning then concludes at the Tinago Gymnasium, where he will lead the distribution of rice assistance under the Local Government Support Fund to 1,776 families from Dumaguete City’s Poblacion barangays.
The Socio-Civic Projects Fund: What Each Barangay Gets
The ₱200,000 check going to each of Negros Oriental’s 557 barangays comes from the Office of the President’s Socio-Civic Projects Fund, rolled out under the administration’s “Bawat Bayan Makikinabang” banner. The Department of the Interior and Local Government formalized the program’s mechanics through DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2026-038, which was publicly launched at Malacañang on February 23, 2026.
According to the DILG circular, each ₱200,000 allocation is split into two equal tranches of ₱100,000. The first tranche is designated for barangay-identified priority projects — covering public services, office and administrative equipment, street lighting, and disaster risk reduction measures. The second tranche finances five Presidential Scholars per barangay, with each scholar receiving ₱20,000.
Computed across all 557 barangays in Negros Oriental, the DILG’s program mechanics translate to an estimated ₱111.4 million in total releases for the province, with as many as 2,785 scholarship slots generated at the local level. Nationally, the Office of the President confirmed the program extends to more than 42,000 barangays, with over 210,000 students projected to benefit countrywide.
Rice Aid Drawn from Record LGSF Budget
The rice distribution at Tinago Gymnasium is financed through the Local Government Support Fund — Financial Assistance to Local Government Units, governed by DBM-DILG Joint Circular No. 1, series of 2026, issued on February 19. The Department of Budget and Management noted that the 2026 national budget carries the largest LGSF allocation in Philippine history at ₱57.872 billion, of which ₱37.492 billion is dedicated to financial assistance for local government units, with roughly half of that sum earmarked specifically for rice.
Under the program’s mechanics, each qualified family receives 10 kilograms of rice per distribution, repeated six times per year, for an annual total of 60 kilograms per household. Funds flow directly to LGUs, which maintain their own beneficiary databases for targeting. Recto announced last month that the rice program had already reached approximately seven million families across the country.
Speaker Dy Brings LegisHear to NORSU
While Recto works the Convention Center, House Speaker Dy will be operating on a parallel track at Negros Oriental State University. The Speaker is scheduled to open his Dumaguete visit at 9 a.m. at the NORSU Audio-Visual Room with a press conference, joined by House Secretary General Atty. Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil.
From there, Speaker Dy moves to the NORSU Gymnasium for the LegisHear: Bawat Batas Mahalaga town hall session, which runs concurrently with Recto’s Convention Center activities and is scheduled to wrap up at noon. The session specifically targets Dumaguete’s youth participants.
What Is LegisHear and Why Dumaguete Is Significant
LegisHear is the House of Representatives’ flagship nationwide legislative consultation and oversight initiative, co-championed by Speaker Dy and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos. The House of Representatives launched the program on July 31, 2026, at Isabela State University in Echague, Isabela — an origin that traces partly to the chamber’s earlier nationwide consultations on the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Act.
A standard LegisHear stop, according to the House of Representatives, combines several elements: a town hall meeting, bill-specific discussions, focus group discussions on frontline government services, an orientation on the legislative process, and on-site delivery of public services. The program’s second stop took place on August 7 at Caraga State University in Butuan City, where participants weighed in on the proposed Basic Education Voucher Assistance Act, a measure seeking to upgrade Butuan Medical Center, and the proposed KALINGA Bill.
Dumaguete marks the third LegisHear stop overall and, critically, the program’s first engagement in the Visayas region.
Background: Who Recto and Dy Are
Ralph G. Recto was sworn in as Executive Secretary on November 19, 2025 — becoming the third person to hold the post under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and inheriting a role sometimes called the “Little President.” He replaced Lucas Bersamin, who stepped down amid controversy over flood control issues. Before the Executive Secretary post, Recto served as Finance Secretary, as a senator, as congressman for Batangas, and as NEDA director-general.
Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III represents Isabela’s 6th District in the House of Representatives. He was elected Speaker on September 17, 2025, securing 253 nominal votes and succeeding Martin Romualdez in the post. A member of Isabela’s prominent Dy political family, Speaker Dy brings extensive local and provincial government experience to the role, having previously served as mayor of Cauayan from 1992 to 2001, as congressman for Isabela’s 3rd District from 2001 to 2010, and as governor of Isabela from 2010 to 2019.
Organizers have noted that the schedules, as released Wednesday afternoon, remain subject to change.
By the Numbers
- 557 — Negros Oriental barangays each receiving a ₱200,000 Socio-Civic Projects Fund check
- ₱111.4 million — estimated total fund release for Negros Oriental from the Socio-Civic Projects Fund
- 2,785 — potential provincial scholarship slots (five scholars per barangay)
- 100 — Presidential Scholars from Negros Oriental receiving direct scholarship distributions
- ₱20,000 — scholarship grant per Presidential Scholar per barangay
- 1,776 — Dumaguete Poblacion families slated to receive rice assistance at Tinago Gymnasium
- 60 kilos — annual rice entitlement per qualified family (10 kg × 6 distributions per year)
- ₱57.872 billion — record 2026 national LGSF allocation, per the Department of Budget and Management
- ₱37.492 billion — LGSF portion allocated for financial assistance to LGUs
- 7 million — families reached by the rice assistance program nationwide as of Recto’s announcement last month
- 42,000+ — barangays covered by the Socio-Civic Projects Fund nationwide
- 210,000+ — students expected to benefit from the scholarship component nationally
- 253 — nominal votes that elected Dy as House Speaker on September 17, 2025
Why This Matters
Friday’s dual visits represent one of the most concentrated deliveries of national government resources to Negros Oriental in recent memory — an estimated ₱111.4 million in barangay fund releases, scholarship grants for up to 2,785 students across the province, and direct rice assistance for 1,776 Dumaguete families, all within a single morning. The LegisHear session at NORSU is equally significant as the program’s first Visayas engagement, offering Dumaguete youth a direct channel to raise concerns and engage with the national legislature on pending bills. The simultaneous presence of the Executive Secretary and the House Speaker in one provincial city signals the Marcos administration’s push to bring flagship assistance and legislative programs beyond Metro Manila and to regional centers like Dumaguete.
Source: Breaking News Negros Oriental (breakingnewsnegrosoriental.com)
