Press Release
November 24, 2009
Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Monday afternoon filed Senate Resolution No. 1489 “congratulating and commending” Efren Peñaflorida for winning as the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.
Peñaflorida bested nine other finalists of CNN’s Heroes campaign and gained worldwide recognition for his work with the “Kariton Klasrum” project, an alternative education program aimed to bring learning to poor children and keep them off the streets.
His organization, Dynamic Teen Company, won as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) in 2008. The annual TAYO search is organized by the Office of Senator Kiko Pangilinan and the National Youth Commission, under the auspices of the TAYO Foundation. Since its inception in 2002, TAYO has become the most prestigious recognition program for youth organizations in the Philippines.
A part of Resolution No. 1489 reads: “Efren Peñaflorida… represents the true and sincere character of a modern-day hero… At age 28, he has chosen to sacrifice his personal interests to pursue his mission to help the underprivileged children and vowed to continue serving others and putting the interest of the needy above his own.”
“Through our work in the TAYO awards, we saw in Efren the kind of passion, integrity, servant-leadership, creativity, and dynamism that we hope for more of our young people,” Pangilinan shared.
“The CNN Hero of the Year award is a testament to Efren’s life of service, a life that he had chosen long before fame and recognition followed his work. We hope that the example set by Efren and by the over 100 other TAYO winners will inspire more young Filipinos to be creative in finding solutions to the country’s problems,” Pangilinan ended.