Raoul Danniel Abellar Manuel, the University of the Philippines Visayas’s (UPV) first summa cum laude, is Kabataan Party-list’s representative to the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress.
Kabataan was one of the 55 winning party-lists proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on May 26, 2022.
Manuel, during a recent interview with broadcast journalist Karmina Constantino of ANC News, highlighted Kabataan’s efforts to put into law the Universal Access for Tertiary Education Act.
“We lobbied for it inside and outside of Congress until it galvanized support and was passed into law eventually,” he said.
This proves that it is still necessary for the young people to have a voice in Congress, he added.
Some of the concerns that the party-list seeks to address are the safe opening of schools, helping students who dropped out due to costs of distance learning, and ensuring job opportunities for graduates.
Manuel earned his bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics at UPV in 2015. He also graduated from the UP High School in Iloilo in 2011.
He served as student regent of the UP Board of Regents, the highest policy-making body in the UP System, for the academic year 2016-2017.
He represented about 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students of the UP System for the said period.
Furthermore, Manuel also served as the as national president of the Katipunan ng Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP) and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP).
