Does footer links still work?

I already know that after Google Penguin the footer links are not effective.
a few days ago, researching a serp, all sites were sorting using links in the footer. is in another serp pure spam of links .edu and .gov.

my doubt, if I do a good job on page is link building, can I stay in front of them?
because in both serps the Trust Flow and high +30.

ps:
a serp and from south america

Sorry my English

does not work using the menu links but
parisite still work perfect.