Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel (Rep. Manuel's office)

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel felt compelled to remind a House colleague about his educational attainment Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 20 during the plenary discussion on the Department of National Defense's (DND) proposed 2024 budget. 

Sponsoring the DND budget at that time was Negros Occidental 6th district Rep. Mercedes Alvarez. 

Manuel, a member of the Makabayan bloc, brought up during the plenary debate a proposed syllabus of the Center for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism that branded Philippine history, national situation, and world situation as "NPA subjects". 

NPA means New People’s Army, the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The center is under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which is overseen by the DND. 

When Manuel asked Alvarez if she believed that the three subjects had something to do with rebel requirement, the latter answered: "Mr. Speaker, the youth of today are very vulnerable. Misinformation in fact is one of the threats to our society." 

"The goal misinformation Mr. Speaker is not simply to misinform; but sometimes it is to manipulate our thinking, the actions, to serve somebody else's agenda. If these youths are vulnerable, I believe they will be vulnerable to misinformation Mr. Speaker," the budget sponsor said. 

"Mr. Speaker, modesty aside, summa cum laude po ako. Hindi po ako bobo (I'm a summa cum laude. I'm not dumb)," Manuel said. 

He said, "Insulto sa kabataan na ang turing ng AFP sa ganitong mga topics ay paraan sa recruitment pupunta sa mga rebelde (It's an insult to the youth that the AFP regards these topics as for the recruitment of rebels)."

He said the syllabus is supposed to be submitted to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Department of Education (DepEd).

The youth solon studied at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics, his Wikipedia profile said. 

Manuel's general weighted average (GWA) of 1.099 made him the first summa cum laude in the university's history. 

Mercedes, who was speaking on behalf of the attending DND officials led by Secretary Gibo Teodor, insisted that the three subjects were "being used by the NPA". 

The lady solon is a vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations.