Filipino student Julian Martir finally breaks his silence amidst the skepticism of the public about his admission and scholarship grants with 30 different universities in the US and UK.
The 20-year-old went viral after he posted on social media that he had been accepted and has received a scholarship from 30 different universities in the US and UK, amounting to $1.9 million (approximately P104 million), which had been shared on major TV news programs and online news outlets.
The public became skeptical of his claims when he had his recent interview, where he had trouble explaining his reasons for choosing the academic path he had indicated.
The statement of his alma mater, Negros Occidental High School (NOHS), which was also mentioned on the interview, only escalated the skepticism toward him after the school stated that they can’t prove Martir’s claims as they don’t have “first-hand information” on the matter.
All these made Martir the center of criticism on social media, in which some online users called him a fraud.
In his most recent interview with News5, Martir shared that all of his credentials, university applications, and scholarships are real.
“I hope everyone will stop accusing me, or kung ano-ano man yung sinasabi ng mga ibang tao, [or whatever it is that other people are saying about me]” he said.
He also mentioned an “issue” that happened way back in 2021, regarding his post on social media about data privacy which made him say that his past doesn’t define who he is now – however, he didn’t elaborate more on what that issue was.
When asked about how he applied, he said that all of his applications were done online, “Just to make my statement clear din po, all of the universities I applied to are true po,” he said.
“Binigay ko po talaga, pati sarili ko binigay ko. Parang sin-old ko po yung soul ko, [I gave it my all. It’s like I sold my soul,]” Martir added.
He was also asked about the universities reply to him regarding his application, wherein he said, “totoo po yung 30 universities na inapplyan ko po. Kahit na i-email niyo sila ng paulit-ulit, they will give you the same response na ni-review talaga ang application ko with scholarships. [It’s true that I applied to 30 universities. Even if you email them again and again, they will just give you the same response, that they have reviewed my application for the scholarships].”
An updated article from another news site has also shared that it verified with the 30 different universities that Martir had initially declared, and reported that eight universities confirmed with them that Martir’s admission is true, with five of them confirming that he was offered a scholarship.
The eight universities mentioned are:
- Ohio Wesleyan University
- Alfred University
- Woodbury University
- Webster University
- Ball State University
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
- Michigan Technological University
- University of Massachusetts Boston
Another news site published on May 22 that Julian Martir’s school is still trying to verify everything, and that they could not readily confirm the student’s claims as they do not have access to first-hand information, but that the school will be very happy about it upon confirmation.
As for those who are criticizing him, he hopes that they stop writing vicious comments about him, “you don’t know about me talaga, kung ano yung pinagdaanan ko, [you don’t know what I’ve gone through]” he said.
The POP! team is still actively contacting the schools that supposedly accepted Martir, in order to shed more light to this controversy.
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