The government should make street educator Efren Peñaflorida an example of a living hero to be emulated by his countrymen, many of whom look up to Manny Pacquiao as their only hero.

Peñaflorida won the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year award for starting a “pushcart classroom” among children so they would not join street gangs.

How ironic that it was an international broadcast network that discovered Peñaflorida and not our own government or a local NGO.

The country does not lack for living heroes.

We have countless Peñafloridas doing their thing silently or without fanfare.

Among them are doctors and dentists of St. Luke’s Medical Center who go on medical missions in poverty-stricken areas around the country.

These top-notch doctors and dentists, who charge high professional fees when in Manila, treat their patients for free when they’re on medical missions.

They go without fanfare into a town upon the invitation of some NGOs or private individuals, and leave just as silently.

They are members of Sagip-Bayan Foundation, an organization of doctors, dentists and nurses at St. Luke’s.

Last Saturday and Sunday, I invited these doctors, dentists and nurses to Tacloban City to conduct a medical mission among the city’s poor.

It was my way of giving back to the community some of the blessings I received from the Universe on my birthday, Nov. 22.

My foundation, RT Good Samaritan Foundation (RTGSF), chose Tacloban City because this was where I studied as a junior and senior high school student, the best years in the life of an adolescent.

The doctors, led by chief surgeon Sammy Tanzo, treated a total of 1,212 persons: 645 dental patients; 159 ailing children and infants; 398 patients with cysts and 10 patients with cleft palates who were all operated on.

The RTGSF gave away 250 reading glasses, half of the 500 glasses donated by Dr. James Dy, owner of the Chinese General Hospital.

For a two-day medical mission, the number of patients treated was phenomenal while everything was conducted in an orderly manner, according to a city resident.

In the past, medical missions conducted by other groups were so disorganized that doctors and dentists were able to treat only a few patients, the city resident said.

Dr. Tanzo, a disciplinarian, instilled order and discipline among the throng that flocked to the gym of Leyte Park Hotel, which was as spacious as an aircraft hangar.

As a result, no one in the crowd was turned away.

The 10 harelip operations were carried out by Dr. Hil Dineros at the nearby East Avenue Regional Medical Center, a government hospital in bad state of disrepair.

The RTGSF invited 10 ophthalmologists or eye doctors from Manila to the medical mission, but they couldn’t come because they were barred by local eye doctors from treating patients with cataracts.

That was the mission’s only fly in the ointment: Local ophthalmologists who didn’t allow their fellow eye doctors from Manila to take part in a medical mission in their turf.

As a result, only 18 cataract patients were treated by local ophthalmologists, when three times that number could have been attended to if Manila eye doctors were allowed to take part.

I’d like to thank the following for contributing to the success of the medical mission: Rey Fuentes; Sally Faelnar; Jeanny Espanola; Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp.; Lilia Pineda of Lubao, Pampanga; Undersecretary Antonio Villar; Cora Ong; Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn; Jack Enrile; Riza Lim; Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Wilson Chan.