diff --git a/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php b/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
index 861c368..15595a9 100644
--- a/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
+++ b/backend/scripts/promote_grade10_candidate.php
@@ -42,8 +42,9 @@ $manifestPath = $candidateRoot . '/' . basename($manifestName);
 $validator = $projectRoot . '/backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php';
 
 // 1. Mandatory gate preflight: identical strict rules, no exceptions.
+$phpBinary = defined('PHP_BINARY') && PHP_BINARY !== '' ? PHP_BINARY : 'php';
 $gateJson = shell_exec(
-    'php ' . escapeshellarg($validator) . ' --json --manifest=' . escapeshellarg(basename($manifestName)) . ' 2>/dev/null'
+    escapeshellcmd($phpBinary) . ' ' . escapeshellarg($validator) . ' --json --manifest=' . escapeshellarg(basename($manifestName)) . ' 2>/dev/null'
 );
 $gate = json_decode((string) $gateJson, true);
 if (!is_array($gate) || ($gate['status'] ?? null) !== 'passed') {
diff --git a/backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php b/backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php
index 1b18238..68412e3 100644
--- a/backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php
+++ b/backend/scripts/validate_grade10_candidate.php
@@ -425,6 +425,7 @@ function finish(): never
         foreach ($warnings as $issue) {
             echo '[WARN] ' . $issue['code'] . ' — ' . $issue['message'] . PHP_EOL;
         }
+        echo PHP_EOL . sprintf("=== INTAKE RESULT: %s (%d errors, %d warnings) ===", strtoupper($result['status']), count($errors), count($warnings)) . PHP_EOL;
     }
     exit($errors === [] ? 0 : 1);
 }