In my news article titled Marinduque: Ecotourism Capital of the Philippines published July 21, 2009 in www.huliq.com, I mentioned that the Palawan Subterranean River in Puerto Princesa was on the top ten of the new 7 Natural Wonders of the World Contest from voters all over the world. I stand corrected, since today the judges of this contest picked up 28 top finalist out of 261 contenders about a year ago. The subterranean river was the only site from the Philippines. It features a limestone Karst mountain landscape with an 8.2 Km navigable underground river. The river winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. The caves has major formation of stalactites and stalagmites. This is the longest underground river in the world.
This site has to compete with worldwide known natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon in US, The Amazon Rain Forest of South America, The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, The Dead Sea of Israel, Jordan and Palestine, The Iquazo Falls of Brazil, The Angels Falls of Venezuela, The Black Forest in Germany , The Matterhorn of Switzerland and Italy, Mount Kilimanjaro of Tanzania, the Uluru ( Ayers Rock) of Australia , The Cliff of Moher in Ireland and others natural wonders in South Korea, Puerto Rico and Indonesia. To see the list of contenders and vote, visit www.new7wonders.com.
I participated in the initial internet voting last year. In the original list, the Chocolate Hills of Bohol and the Mayon Volcano in Albay were two other contenders in the Philippines. The two sites were eliminated after it was narrowed down to 77 last week. In the news from several Philippine newspapers recently, the Palawan subterranean river was always in the top ten choice of internet voters all over the world. Final selection will be announced by 2011 according to the New Natural 7 Wonders of the World organization. So my fellow Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, please vote to insure that The Palawan subterranean river makes it to the top 7 new natural wonders of the world. Perhaps, someday you may be able to visit this beautiful tourist spot in the Philippines. If perchance, you are in the Philippines, please drop by Marinduque-my second home and island Paradise. Hope to see you soon in the Philippines.
Photo from philippineholiday.comHere's a short video from GMA News in Tagalog and English. Please vote.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV
My Personal Choice for the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World in alphabetical order are:
1. Amazon Rain Forest of South America
2. Galapagos Islands of Ecuador
3. Grand Canyon of the United States
4. Great Barrier Reefs of Australia
5. Iquazo Falls of Brazil
6. Mt Kilimanjaro of Tanzania
7. Palawan's Subterranean River of the Philippines
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