A Filipino was declared the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year! His name is Efren Peñaflorida. I watched the short video clip with Peñaflorida tonight as CNN reported the winner during the ceremony at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood Saturday night. Congrats!
Efren Peñaflorida won the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year award through online voting (and I voted for this guy last week). According to CNN, Peñaflorida received 2.75 million online votes, the highest among the 10 finalists. He was honored for his “Kariton Klassroom”, which brings education to poor Filipino children.
Did we ever wonder how Peñaflorida got those number of votes in the seven weeks of voting period? It is all because of the Filipino power! Filipinos are good at supporting other people’s achievements if they bring pride to the country. We never hesitate to give our full backing whenever the honor and pride of the Philippines and its people are at stake.
So how did we do our share? We blog. We mention it in forums. We campaign for Efren Peñaflorida in all ways possible. We blog it again. And again until we think the lobbying has already worked.
Count the number of times we have won online voting contests. For instance, why do we often get the “Miss Photogenic” award in international beauty contests, even if there are other women more photogenic than ours? It is the power of millions of Filipinos getting online to vote.
Through consolidation of Filipino effort, we are able to put the Puerto Princesa Underground River among the 28 candidates vying for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organized by the New7Wonders Foundation. Again, this is Pinoy power in action. The Official Declaration of the New7Wonders of Nature will be in 2011. Should we say, as early as now, that Puerto Princesa Underground River is a huge winner?
When young singing sensation Charice released “Note to God” digitally, Filipinos were ready to purchase the single. The song listed at no.1 in Amazon’s top selling single on that day of release! It is expected that when Charice debuts her first album in the U.S. next year, it will be a big hit.
This is who we are. We are proud of our culture. If there is a chance for anyone of us to be known around the world and bring accolade to the millions of Filipinos, we are willing to dispense full assistance.
Again, congrats to Efren Peñaflorida! The 28-year-old teacher from Cavite City received $100,000 cash to continue his work with his group, Dynamic Teen Company. He also got $25,000 bonus for just being included in the top 10 CNN Heroes.
Watch CNN Heroes TV broadcast on Thanksgiving Day!
It is not the votes alone that put Efren on top and more particularly not because of the Filipinos alone…It is the world who really decide and he really does worth it….
It’s not JUST Filipinos who have contributed. You have to realize that while maybe there were a majority of Filipinos who voted for Efren for CNN Hero of the Year, it probably never really occurred to you that many others were inspired by his story and voted for him & forwarded emails about his story. Maybe even campaigning for him for than some/most Filipinos. Who says that it was the doing of just Filipinos? Why disrespect the ladies who won Miss Photogenic by accusing their countrymen of massive voting even if “they didn’t deserve it”? Maybe there are those who actually voted for Miss Philippines or maybe she WAS the most Photogenic. No need to degrade them for the sake of your Filipino pride. Charice’s single didn’t make it to the top just because of Filipinos. Not all Filipinos even like/support Charice. In fact, there are many little Filipino crabs who choose to “hate” her because she’s famous now. The reason why Charice made it to the number one spot in Amazon, iTunes, and so forth, was not because of only Filipinos, but rather massive exposure. She debuted her first single on Oprah, the most influential and most richest woman in the world. If Filipinos were the main contributors or the ones who were ready to buy her single, then why did her debut single peak @ no. 2 on iTunes Portugal? Surely, not all Filipinos residing in Portugal couldn’t have bought that single. I don’t even think there is a massive amount of Filipinos living in Portugal. This is not to bash you or to demoralize you, but please, don’t be too prideful. Filipinos aren’t the reason why these people have been recognized throughout the world. It is credited to so many people, not just their own countrymen.