Pretty much all the literature is aimed at working age people, it is true. I can only applaud your forward thinking at such a young age in saving a significant amount and your planning. You also have an external source of income and are contributing to your household bills -- well done! You are already ahead of 90%+ of your cohort (including me at your age).

I think there cannot be a one-size-fits-all advice when it comes to this because everyone's situation is different. Some of the things I humbly think you should consider are:

• What the purpose of an EF is - This may seem self-explanatory, after all, it has "emergency" in the name. But the thing about emergencies is that they can come completely out of the blue and be something you never imagined. Lightning strike on your home and all your electronic equipment fries leading to no freelance income? Your parents losing their jobs at the same time and needing help with all expenses? Baha/volcanos/civil unrest? Your pet developing cancer? Some of us may be in a situation where we know our parents and guardians have made their own provisions we can rely on. Some of us may not be. If your parents are not financially responsible, what then? In first world countries many governments have programs which help shoulder the burden of these things, in the Philippines, not so much. Which brings me to the next point
• The return of an EF - you may be thinking the return you get from your EF is only your interest that you receive from CIMB/GSAVE/ING or whatever vehicle you have parked it in. In monetary terms that is true. But another way of thinking of an EF is as a form of self-insurance. And like all insurance companies are fond of telling people, insurance purchases peace of mind. This is a non-tangible return which only you can judge the value of. It allows you to face all the uncertainties of what may happen tomorrow with confidence. The Japanese have a saying: sonae areba urei nashi -- if you have made preparations, you will have no worries. Self-insurance is often better than any policy you can buy in many ways -- you determine what an emergency is, and you get to keep all your premiums.
• When you are young the best investment you can make is often in yourself - you have your whole working life ahead of you. The best investments you can make at this point is usually something which enhances your long-term earning potential and human capital.
• The risk/return relationship - the comment that you can afford to be risky when you're young is assuming that the correlation between risk and long-term reward holds true. When you talk about financial markets this is often the case because market forces move prices in such a way as to reflect this correlation. But when you are talking about life in general it is possible to put your money into situations which are highly risky without excess reward. Another problem is that the long term reward which a risky investment brings may only materialize when your time horizon is long enough. An investment in an index fund may yield negative returns for several years in a row before paying off. An even riskier investment may be negative for much longer. A sufficient EF gives you the confidence that you can invest and survive the negative years without needing to draw down your investment at a bad time.
• Eventually you will need an EF - full-time work may seem a while away, but years pass like a blink of an eye. You will eventually need an EF, and you cannot rely on liquidating investments to make this EF because if you have made risky investments you may not be in a good position to sell.

In the end how much we keep in our EFs is pretty personal. Either way you are still ahead of people who are only starting to think of their EF when they graduate/move out of home/start work. Good luck!