KABATAAN Party-list Representative Raoul Manuel will wear a Barong hand-painted by student artist Albert Raqueño for the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Manuel said the “mural” on the Barong takes on the form of a Katipunero neckerchief with a fiery heart anchoring its knot and the multitude of youth at the back united to fight for a better tomorrow.

He said that it was inspired by the nationalism of national hero Andres Bonifacio.

“The heart bleeds out its essence of nationalism on a book symbolizing education from which progressive reforms spring upward including – genuine agrarian reform (crops), national industrialization (factories), and just peace (doves forming the neckerchief knot).

The lawmaker stressed that the key to progress is a nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education system that will shape the new generation to address the country’s needs.

“Such a reform requires a sufficient increase in the Philippine education budget to at least 6% of the country’s GDP, as is the world standard,” he added.

“This is the alternative forwarded by Filipino youth towards the second year of Kabataan Party-list’s term,” he said.