Puerto Princesa Underground River in final push to make 7 wonders list

Puerto Princesa Underground River

Only two days left for the world’s texting capital to vote the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo on Tuesday called on all governors and mayors to push their constituents into voting for the underground river to win one of only seven slots before the deadline on November 11.

The Palawan wonder is competing with, among others, the Dead Sea, the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Halong Bay of Vietnam and Italy’s Vesuvius.

Losing ground

The underground river made it to the top 10 in a recent ranking update in the contest website, but as of Tuesday the voting trend was going downward.

Filipinos may text in their vote by typing PPUR and sending it to 2861, or by logging on to the website, www.new7wonders.com.

Robredo, chairman of the Inter-agency Task Force for the PPUR, a campaign created under Presidential Proclamation 182, said the “local government sector should play a pivotal role in the final push to victory for the PPUR.”

President Benigno Aquino III had ordered national line agencies to launch a campaign urging every Filipino to vote online or via text messages for the underground river.

Robredo said the report about PPUR’s overall standing was encouraging, but he cautioned against Filipinos being complacent and noted that only seven would be chosen among the 10 finalists.

“Hence, there is a need to close ranks and demonstrate patriotism in order for our entry to get into the magic seven,” he said in a statement.

“The help of our local government officials is very crucial at this critical juncture,” he added.

In Puerto Princesa, campaigners for the PPUR led by Mayor Edward Hagedorn said they are  “almost certain we will make it to the final seven.”

Telecommunications giants Smart and Globe have mounted a text voting campaign that offers cash prizes as much as P25 million to lucky voters.

According to its website, the New7Wonders of Nature campaign started in 2007, immediately following the successful drive to choose the man-made Official New 7 Wonders of the World.

From December 2007 to July 7, 2009, over 440 locations from more than 220 countries were nominated through a national qualification and raced to become one of the Top 77.

From the 77, the New7Wonders panel of experts supervised the selection of the 28 official candidates, which were announced on July 21, 2009.

The Official New7Wonders of Nature is now in its third and final phase, and an estimated one billion people worldwide will cast their vote for their chosen seven.

In alphabetical order, the New7Wonders Foundation announced on its website the top 10 finalists as the following: the Dead Sea, the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, Halong Bay, Jeita Grotto, Jeju Island, Komodo Island, Puerto Princesa Underground River, Sundarbans and Vesuvius. No ranking was given.

The final seven will be proclaimed based on the total number of Internet and text votes they have received.

Eamonn Fitzgerald, head of communication for New7Wonders, however, stressed that the winning list could still change in the final week and days.

“With millions of votes still set to come in, finalists who are not in today’s top 10 could yet make it into the chosen 7,” he said.

The first count indicating the provisional voting result will be announced at 19:07 p.m. GMT on November 11 (3 a.m. Nov. 12 in Manila) on new7wonders.com. With Redempto D. Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon