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NEW
7 WONDERS OF NATURE. The world famous Chocolate Hills, the pride of Bohol,
is now ranked No. 4 in the global search for the "New 7 Wonders of Nature." | | With
the growing support for the Chocolate Hills here and around the world, it is now
on 4th place in the global search for the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
As
of presstime last night, Bohol's world-acclaimed haycock hills, was also joined
by three other Philippine nature sites that have surged into the top ten list
- Tubbataha Reef in Palawan (2nd |
place),
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River (6th) and Mayon Volcano (10th).Ha
Long Bay of Vietnam is still on the top spot. Other sites in the top ten are Cox's
Bazar in Bangladesh (3rd), Ganges River of Bangladesh (5th), Mt. Everest of Nepal
(7th), Amazon River of South America (8th) and Mt. Fuji of Japan (9th).
The
search for new seven wonders of the world campaign, organized by the New7Wonders
Foundation, will accept online votes until December 31, 2008. The nature sites
that make it to the top 77 will be considered for shortlisting by a panel of experts
who will chose 21 sites as finalists.
The
New 7 Wonders of Nature will come from the 21 finalists chosen by the panel of
experts.
SUPPORT
GROUP
When
the Chocolate Hills of Carmen appeared in the Top 77 New Wonders of Nature, Boholanos
around the world participated in the internet voting to bring Chocolate Hills
to the top.
Just
as Boholanos have started campaigning for more people to vote online, sometime
in mid April 2008, the Chocolate Hills disappeared from the Top 77 list to the
astonishment of everyone, including local government officials.
| | | In
California, one of the prime movers in the campaign to vote for Chocolate Hills,
Oscar "Bob" Galang, did not just watch Chocolate Hills to be removed
from the ranking. He
used his resources to contact the organizers of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in
Brussels, Belgium, to investigate the reason behind the removal of Chocolate Hills
from the ranking. Through a series of email communications and overseas calls
between Tia Viering, Head of Communications and Nadja Rahal, Head of Productions
in Brussels, and Bob Galang in California, the immediate reinstatement of the
Chocolate Hills to the online ranking on April 28, 2008 was made possible. |
Through
the immediate support of Carmen Mayor Manuel Molina (representing the local government
where the Chocolate Hills is located), to stand as head of the ChocolateHills.US
as the Official Support Committee (OSC) for Chocolate Hills, and Bob Galang's
skillful handling of the nomination documents and requirements, the Chocolate
Hills is now an officially nominated site for the search.
Having
assumed the role as Coordinator of ChocolateHills.US, the recognized OSC for Chocolate
Hills, Bob Galang, together with Mel Alfarero, called a meeting to create the
organizational structure of "ChocolateHills.US", to take on the important
function of soliciting more votes and supporters for our nominee to insure a spot
in the Top 21 Finalists by the end of December 2008.
In
the support group are Mayor Molina, head, Bohol based; Galang, coordinator, asst
head; Camilo Alfarero, logistics in-charge; Agnes Culpa Nazareno, secretary-treasurer;
Sylvia Dagami Fortich, head communications; Lino Chatto Jr., project manager and
Chronicle associate editor Peter Dejaresco, official media coordinator.
The
organizational meeting was held at the residence of Dr. & Mrs. Mario Fortich,
Jr. on May 16, 2008 forming the Steering Committee composed of spirited and talented
people:
This
team have volunteered their time and efforts to help the Chololate Hills be known
all over the world as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Their main task at hand
would be to solicit more supporters for the Chocolate Hills, taking into consideration
the rules and restrictions that the New 7 Wonders of Nature organization have
imposed. /sdf |
