EFREN PEÑAFLORIDA, CNN’S HERO OF THE YEAR, did not exactly arrive to a hero’s welcome last Nov. 26. The euphoria of his victory last Nov. 22 was just as quickly dimmed by the sordidness of the Ampatuan, Maguindanao massacre the next day. Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Miguel Cotto and Peñaflorida’s accomplishment catapulted the Philippines to global renown. The Maguindanao incident grabbed the spotlight from them and sunk the Philippines in global regard (and notoriety) to new lows. The Lord giveth and He also taketh away.

But the bloodbath in Maguindanao should not be allowed to rain on Peñaflorida’s parade. And the nation should take it from Peñaflorida: during his homecoming last Thursday, Peñaflorida emphasized that while he was gratified with the acclaim and fame that came with the CNN award, he would remain the same—traveling with a pushcart in order to educate young people to wean them away from the vice and violence of the streets. “I will still push carts,” he told the hundreds of students and teachers of Dynamic Teen Co. (DTC), the NGO he has established to fulfill his vision. “Don’t think [I have] changed. I just represent all the selfless and hardworking Filipinos.”

The government may shower Peñaflorida with the Order of Lakandula and all state honors at its command, but the fact remains that the CNN award he has won is a left-handed compliment to a government whose incompetence and corruption have made a disaster of education and other social services. In the same manner, the new notoriety won by the nation as a result of the Maguindanao massacre should also be blamed on an administration that coddles feudal political clans and their private armies, a police and a military that are a bane to public safety and order and a weak Comelec.

The 28-year-old Peñaflorida is a child and conqueror of strife. Hailing from poverty in Cavite, he almost had to drop out of grade school in order to give way to an older brother who had to finish high school. But a community volunteer helped him get a scholarship from World Vision, the international group which matches sponsors with needy children. Because of his good grades, his benefactor from Australia financed his education until he finished a two-year diploma course in computer technology.

Worried about the high dropout rate in Cavite, which led young people to join street gangs, and perhaps wanting to pay back the help he got, Peñaflorida gathered his high-school batchmates and put up DTC, an itinerant literacy movement. At first, the group used a bike with a sidecar to carry around the books and blackboard for on-the-spot instruction. But because the tire would run flat and the chains fall off, the group turned to using a pushcart instead. The primitive technology has brought education to thousands of young people. Today, there are 2,000 DTC volunteers and its example is being replicated around the country, and because of the CNN spotlight on Peñaflorida’s notable achievement amid adversity, in Indonesia and Kenya. Peñaflorida’s may yet become the Philippine contribution to global people-empowerment, much like Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank which became the originator of micro-financing for the poor.

Idealism like Peñaflorida’s is infectious. Small people’s heroism is global. Just take a look at the other CNN heroes: Brad Blauser who provides wheelchairs to disabled children in Iraq; Roy Foster who established a house to help fellow veterans struggling with addiction and homelessness in Florida; bartender Doc Hendley who provides clean water to poor communities worldwide; breast cancer survivor Andrea Ivory who helps uninsured women have early cancer detection; Betty Makoni who founded a safe haven for young victims of sexual abuse in Zimbabwe; school bus driver Jorge Muñoz who has a mobile soup kitchen to provide meals to hungry New Yorkers displaced by the financial crisis; Budi Soehardi who has founded a children’s home in one of the poorest areas of Indonesia; Derrick Tab who provides music education to young people in New Orleans to prevent them from turning to vice and the violent streets; and Jordan Thomas, who lost his legs in an accident and who has founded a program to provide prosthetics for children in need.

Peñaflorida and the other CNN heroes are an inspiring lot. They embody the hope that every person has for change and reform amid government neglect and incompetence. They show that all meaningful change starts from within. As Peñaflorida told the CNN audience, “You are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively, we are the change that this world needs to be.”