PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, Philippines—A musical concert featuring young performers from at least 20 countries will showcase this city’s kickoff celebration for the inclusion of the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) in the provisional list of winners in the recently concluded online global search for the seven new wonders of nature.
The concert, to be held Saturday night, is part of a series of events the city government here would be holding to “celebrate a successful campaign” that catapulted Palawan’s main tourist attraction into the provisional seven winners that was announced Friday last week by the Swiss-based private foundation that spearheaded the search.
The concert will feature “Up With People,” a US-based volunteer program that had organized a multinational group of 100 volunteers representing 20 countries to perform various types of community services in Palawan communities.
“The main goal (of the concert) is to celebrate Puerto Princesa Underground River, likely to soon become one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, as well as to promote international understanding, one of the main advocacies of Up with People over its 46 years,” said Luis Petzhold, the group’s tour director.
PPUR emerged among the seven “provisional” winners of a three-year Internet based search for the seven new wonders of nature.
The New7Wonders Foundation based in Switzerland disclosed the provisional set of winners last Nov. 11, adding it would confirm the winner following an ongoing audit of the votes and before the formal proclamation event is held early next year.
PPUR, located within a national park and World Heritage site some two hours drive north of Puerto Princesa City, is considered the world’s longest navigable underground river.
It hosts a wide array of endemic species of plants and animals, including a recently discovered fossil of a sea cow from the Miocene period and spectacular chambers holding rare minerals.
Apart from PPUR, the other provisional winners in the search were the Amazon, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, the Iguazu Falls located in the boundary of Argentina and Brazil, Jeju Island of South Korea, Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, and South Africa’s Table Mountain.