Coming off the heels of our 6th WhyNot?Forum — Why Not Be True? Tribute to Pinoy Subculture Tribes, the WhyNuts thought through the theme for 7.0. Our minds were swimming around science, futurism, and heroism - until we decided to coincide our schedule with the August 21 death anniversary of national hero Ninoy Aquino. That decision settled it. From a back-to-the-roots journey into geek-dom and subculture, we were ready to unashamedly wear our nationalistic hearts on our sleeves again.

Bam melded our thoughts and proposed to talk about ‘the Filipino for the 21st Century’ - a Reimagined Filipino if you will - and it was a theme that the group gravitated towards immediately. To deepen our thinking, we underwent a process to discuss the theme in length, inviting Rapa Lopa (who would eventually be a speaker), Lino Rivera, and former WhyNot? speaker Floy Quintos to brainstorm. The output of that session eventually gave birth to WhyNot?Forum 7.0 :

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Fast forward to August 22 : WhyNot?Forum 7.0 becomes another memorable milestone in the history of WhyNot?Forums.

In true WN?F fashion, we looked for a venue that could be a statement on the theme itself. Thus, we looked for a space that was rich in Filipino heritage and culture, and yet at the same time was progressive and forward-looking. For us, the Ayala Museum was the perfect space. And thankfully, with the help of Bill Luz from the Ayala Foundation, we were able to get it.

WhyNot?Forum 7.0 @ the Ayala Museum Lobby

As early as 2:30pm, people promptly started trickling in. By 3pm, the venue had been filled-up and more seats needed to be provided. The crowd would eventually balloon to more than 200 - composed of young professionals, students, academicians, business leaders, development workers, NGO’s, executives, even children - taking up the entire floor area venue.

Bam Aquino, WhyNut and our in-house host, then introduced WhyNot?Forum 7.0’s theme, explaining how the WhyNuts had decided to coincide this special WN?F with the death anniversary of his uncle, National Hero Ninoy Aquino. He shared that it was our own way to also contribute to the conversation on positive change for the country. (more…)

Why Not A ReimagiNATION?

Imagine the New Filipino : Homebound, not Outbound. Competitive, not Complacent. Global Perspective, not Regional Mindset. Renegades, not Robots

Paco Sandejas, Brain Gain Network
Major Dennis Eclarin, Philippine Army
Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel
Howie Severino, Journalist
and Rapa Lopa, Executive Director of Benigno Aquino Foundation on his Tita Cory’s reimagination of the New Filipino through her work and advocacies

August 22, 3pm to 6pm @ the Ayala Museum. Tickets at P200 each.
Please email whynotforum@gmail.com for reservations

READ NOW By J. Vincent Sarabia Ong Updated May 30, 2009 12:00 AM

reposted from http://www.philstar.com/ArticlePrinterFriendly.aspx?articleId=472706

The WhyNuts?: These are core group members of WhyNot? Forum L-R Richard Estuesta, Carlo Calimon,Jan Chavez-Arceo Bam Aquino Timi Gomez,Angeli Ko, Mark Ruiz.

With the recent level of Filipino media gunk rising and its content reaching a new low, St. Paul nailed it on the head when he said we must “drown evil in an abundance of good.” Fortunately for us, thanks to a group of young entrepreneurs, the word “Filipino” on the web is not Googled, tagged and associated only with terms such as singer, boxer or the song Careless Whisper. Instead of providing us videos that make us scratch our heads and say “Why?” these yuppies have pooled their resources together to give us online content that inspires us to do good as Filipinos and say “Why Not?”

I’m talking about the WhyNot? Forum spearheaded by social entrepreneur Mark Ruiz. Aside from his unmistakable white glasses, he is the board director of Rags2Riches and managing director of Microventures that manages Hapinoy. The WhyNot? Forum is an event already in its sixth run and features various inspiring Filipino speakers — from the three women who climbed Mt. Everest to Mr. Pagsi, an 80-year-old teacher who has been teaching first year high school English for 50-plus years. Among the other 31 speakers featured, this list includes corporate big wig Mon Isberto of Smart Communications, shoe designer Brian Tenoro, Jesuit priest Fr. Ted Gonzales, Senator Kiko Pangilinan and RockEd’s Gang Badoy who ad-libbed her eloquent speech when her computer presentation wouldn’t open.

Yet, the magic of WhyNot? is that these talks (inspired by TED Talks in the US) are not just for a live audience. They are recorded and uploaded for free viewing in their website for Filipinos to follow the WhyNot? mantra of “Think New Thoughts. Share Big Dreams. Do Brave Things.” Thus inspiring Filipinos to unleash their ingenuity. (more…)