PhalconのDbAdapterにchareset=utf8を渡す（MySQL） ref: http://qiita.com/ryo511/items/b6fcbca8fd4287a13043

file0.php

$con = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test;charset=utf8', 'dbuser', 'password');

file1.php

$db = new Phalcon\Db\Adapter\Pdo\Mysql([
    'dsn'      => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test;charset=utf8',
    'username' => 'dbuser',
    'password' => 'password',
]);

file2.php

$db = new Phalcon\Db\Adapter\Pdo\Mysql([
    'host'     => 'localhost',
    'username' => 'dbuser',
    'password' => 'password',
    'dbname'   => 'test',
    'charset'  => 'utf8',
]);