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Philippine \"heroes\"

posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 02:26 PM

On Sunday, the Philippines would surely stop to watch the boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. Crime rates are expected to drop as the terrorist themselves will stop whatever idiocy they are doing to cheer for the “hero”.

A hero – a word a lot of Filipinos associate with the recent best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. From poverty to riches and stardom, his achievement is something that a lot of poor people in the Philippines would like to reach. With this in mind, one can imagine a big number of young men sweating themselves into boxing training; little kids pounding their playmates and shouting “I am Pacman!”

I have nothing against Manny Pacquiao and, as a Filipino, I am proud of his achievements too. He is a star so big though that he outshines another hero that, I believe, young people should look up to.

Efren Peñaflorida. Who is he? I think if you mention his name to Filipinos, not many would recognize his name immediately. Larry King of CNN would recognize his name though, as he recently interviewed him as being one of the nominees for CNN Heroes.

Mr. Peñaflorida of Dynamic Team Company is currently in the top 10 nominated in CNN´s Heroes. Born into a poor family, he refused to allow his circumstances to define his future. He stayed away from the pressure of belonging into gangs which are rampant in Manila. He emerged from all these barriers of poverty and now, he is doing his best to help the poor kids by giving them what would be most helpful to them in life- education.

Pushcart classes – this is how the Dynamic Team operates every Saturday. Children in the slums smile at their arrival and flock to the volunteers' pushcarts to learn reading, writing, arithmetic, and English. It is truly inspring to see the short video wherein kids, eager to learn, smile and run to welcome the volunteers.

--- I really do not have much time remaining to give a wonderful ending for this article as I am running late for work. On Sunday, let us all cheer for Manny Pacquiao. May he punch Cotto's face nice and good. Also, make sure that before Nov. 17 you click on the Vote button for Efren Peñaflorida in this link → http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/vote/

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