The Philippine Online Chronicles

The man behind Kariton Klasrum, Efren Peñaflorida has been nominated for a CNN Hero of the Year Award.

The tourism department has rallied behind Peñaflorida, one of the 10 finalists in this year’s CNN Hero of the Year search for his work with street children, Inquirer.net reported.

He is one of four nominees in the ‘Championing Children’ category of the annual search. Other categories include Community Crusader, Defending the Planet, Medical Marvel, Protecting the Powerless and Young Marvel.

Department of Tourism secretary Ace Durano said, “The time to celebrate Philippine heroism is long overdue. This is our chance to share with the world the Filipino’s sense of selflessness, and to honor the little acts of kindness that we, his kababayan, can very well take inspiration from.”

Kariton Klasrum is a pushcart full of books and other educational materials that bring the classroom to children and educate in slum areas, dumpsites and even in the cemetery, according to ABSCBN-news.com.

The visionary educational program is under Penaflorida’s Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) “that aims to uplift the lives of underprivileged children younger than themselves through education."

Filipinobiz.ph quoted Peñaflorida, “When people regard me as a hero, I always tell them that they should look inside them too because I believe that there’s a hero inside every one of us and all we have to is just to open our eyes wide and feel what’s going on."

Inquirer.net posted that candidates for the award were selected by a blue ribbon panel. The hero with the most online votes will be named “CNN Hero of the Year”, and will be recognized during the “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” to be aired next month.

To vote for Peñaflorida, click here.

Voting continues until November 19, 2009. There is no limit on the number of times one may vote for their candidate.