Do more!
An artist, an innovator, a challenger, a luminary, a civic hero, a digital vanguard, a social entrepreneur, and a global Pinoy welfare advocate in one room do not mean a clash among philosophies. Rather, together, they inspire Filipinos to do more than they are asked for and then create a ripple of change toward a better self and nation.
The eight achievers were recognized in the recently concluded Do More Awards brought by Rexona and Rappler. The awarding ceremony serves as an apt reminder that there are still do-gooders who are willing to help beyond the call of their duty. They are in the personas of ordinary citizens who do extraordinary deeds. Aside from recognizing them and their inspiring stories, their innate compassion reminds us that there is something to celebrate and there a lot more to do.
The essence of doing more according to our winners:
“Doing more is about not being content with just liking or sharing posts. It’s not just about reading the headlines and the first paragraphs or articles. It’s about learning more and arguing about things that you want to understand more about,” said Red Tani, the founder of Filipino FreeThinkers Organization, a platform for free thought sans the constraints of dogma and tradition. Tani is the winner under the Digital Trailblazer category, which recognizes online users who utilize their clouts for change.
Meanwhile, for the Innovator category winner, Rolando dela Cruz, doing beyond what is asked for means, “it is not enough that we are always contented with ‘bahala na’ or ‘pwede na ‘yan’. Every school must be involved with the idea of social re-engineering”. Dela Cruz is the founder and CEO of Darwin International School System in Bulacan. As a staunch education advocate, he wants to inject nonconformist ideas to our education system like including the studies of Humanities as early as Grade 11 and thus produce world-class students. For him, to be innovative is risky. One risks his/her resources, relationships, and even own life all with the goal of a better tomorrow. Dela Cruz is a columnist of the Manila Bulletin, Schools Colleges Universities (SCU) section.
Doing more and contributing change meanwhile runs in the Saño family. Remember the Filipino UN representative who recently made a tearful plea during the Climate Change Summit in Warsaw? That was Yeb Saño, older brother of the Artist category winner AG Saño. The awardee, clad in a bandana, is also an environmentalist. AG paints dolphins to symbolize his advocacy on saving them and rainbows that translate to world peace. Apparently, while working as a marine researcher back in 2010 he found out that thousands of dolphins are slaughtered annually. Thus, with the help of his brush, willpower, and advocacy, he and his supporters paint the town with hope and positivity.
The other winners are:
The Global Pinoy: OFW-welfare advocate, President of the Blas Ople Policy Center, Manila Bulletin Panorama Columnist Susan Ople
The Luminary: UNTV CEO Daniel Razon
The Civic Hero: Gawad Kalinga Executive Director Luis Oquineña
The Challenger: SEA Games medalist and triathlete Mimi Lucas
The Social Entrepreneur: Co-founder and president of Hapinoy, a Sari-Sari store program, Mark Ruiz
All award winners were given a cash prize of PHP 50,000 to be given to their chosen charity.
Senator Bam Aquino, one of the panelists, gave the night’s closing remarks and said that the Do More Awards is “a call to action for those who don’t do more.”
A total of 200 inspiring stories were nominated in the Do More Awards, which only means there are community heroes within us, who are ready to do more. How about you, what are you willing to contribute?
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