EFREN PEÑAFLORIDA: Power of the People TVC

Efren Peñaflorida didnt have to do spectacular things. He didnt jump from tall building or rescue a cat from the tree, but Efren, Filipino, received citation from international news agency CNN as a modern-day hero. When he started his mission, Efren wasnt thinking much of getting any recognition much less from CNN. He just wanted to give back what he thought was given to him education and hope for poor children. With his pushcart loaded with crayons, books, pens, clothes, jugs of water, a blackboard and a Philippine flag, Efren would be seen at the public cemetery, market and dump in Cavite City where he, and a group of young volunteers, teach street children basic literacy skills and values to save them from illegal drugs and prevent them from joining gangs. Efrens advocacy was borne out of his own experience, being a victim of gangs when he was in high school. He knows by heart what poverty can do, and that is snatch children out of school and lead them to violence. Efrens group, Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) was formed by him and his classmates at Cavite National High School back in August 1997. It was a time when teenagers like him were being forced to join in gangs which gets involved in riots. He was only 16 then.