KABATAAN Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel urged more youth to speak up and be patriotic in their own way in leading a life of genuine social change.

Manuel made the call upon receiving the Pillar of Hope For Youth Mobilization award from the Eton International School recently.

In his acceptance speech, Manuel cited the story of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ in which a child verbalized the obvious truth to inspire other people to speak out.

“As I always say, whatever award or achievement I attain is not the product of my personal efforts only. Behind me and with me are young ones – and even the once young – who offer their time, energy and support to the pursuit of meaningful change in our communities,” Manuel said.

“Wagas kasi kung makapag-pressure ang ating bayani na si Gat Jose Rizal. Sabi niya, ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. Kaya todo bigay tayo sa loob at labas ng Kongreso. Kabataang Pilipino, atin ang gantimpalang ito!” he added.

Before ending his speech, he narrated the short story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.

“Recall that in the story, no one among the officers of the emperor had the guts to tell him that he did not have any clothes on for the procession. When the emperor was walking in full view of the crowd, it took one child who verbalized the obvious truth to inspire other people to speak out as well and make the emperor and his officers realize that they were doing something wrong. In these times, we need more of that child,” he stated.

“In whatever situation that demands our voice, let us be that child,” Manuel stressed.