[ Manila Bulletin Online ] January 8, 2009
By ELLALYN B. DE VERA
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan province has been chosen the Philippine entry in the New Seven Wonders of Nature worldwide competition, the Zurich-based New7Wonders Foundation announced yesterday.
The announcement was a result of the first phase of voting in the official New7Wonders of Nature campaign where only one national nominee per country was chosen through online voting.
After two weeks of tallying and verification of votes, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean National Park qualified as the national nominee, while the Coral Triangle, which is shared by the Philippines, is the multinational nominee.
Of the original 441 nominees in the world, 180 participants or more than 40 percent were eliminated.
The Subterranean River and Coral Triangle are among the 261 entries worldwide from 222 participating countries. The other entries include such iconic sites the Grand Canyon, Loch Ness, the Black Forest, Mount Fuji, the Amazon, the Danube, the Dead Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Iguazu Falls, the Kalahari Desert, Mont Blanc, and Niagara Falls.
"We congratulate the successful qualifying locations from the Philippines and wish them the best of luck in the second phase of voting," Tia Viering, New7Wonders head of communications, said.
The Subterranean River National Park is said to be the world’s longest passable underground river, which measures 8.2 kilometers that passes through a cave with major formations of stalactites and stalagmites.
"We also at this time highlight the strong and enthusiastic participation of the other national nominees that are not proceeding—many have already benefited from a significant increase in worldwide awareness, which in itself is a recognized important benefit for all involved in the New7Wonders campaigns," she added.
Viering said the 261 nominees are now "one step closer" to potentially being chosen as one of the Official New7Wonders of Nature. The second phase of the voting until July 7 will determine the Top 77 nominees, from which the New7Wonders panel of experts will select the 21 finalists.
The panel will be led by Prof. Dr. Federico Mayor, former United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) director-general.
Viering said that during the third and final phase of voting, the people will have at least two years to choose among the 21 finalists for the Official New7Wonders of Nature, to be announced in 2011.
"Over 1 billion votes are forecast," she said.
The New7Wonders team will visit the 21 finalists starting July 21 in time for the declaration of the Official New7Wonders of Nature in 2011. The Philippine nominees that did not make it from the first phase are the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, Chocolate Hills in Bohol, Mayon Volcano in Bicol, Hundred Islands National Park in Pangasinan, Mount Pinatubo in Zambales, and Taal Volcano in Batangas.