Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Cabaero: 7 new wonders By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
I VOTED for the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, the Tubattaha Reef in the Sulu Sea and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park for the top three. The rest in my list for the “New 7 Wonders of the World” were other wonders in Asia.
This online polling for the world’s new wonders at http://www.new7wonders.com is getting people around the world interested and clicking. As of yesterday, May 5, three natural wonders in the Philippines figured in the list of the top 77 nominees.
The Tubattaha Reef was number 8 in the list, Chocolate Hills was at 9 and the Subterranean River National Park at 24. The ranking is based on the number of on-line votes to a natural wonder.
The purpose of the ranking is to update the first list of the “Seven Ancient Wonders of the World” compiled by Philon of Byzantium in 200 B.C. According to the fact sheet on the website, the ancient list was done by one man and was made up of man-made monuments. These are the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus, Colossus of Rhodes, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Pyramids of Egypt. Today, only the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt remain.
Philon’s selection of wonders was “essentially a travel guide for fellow Athenians, and its stunning sites were all located around the Mediterranean basin, the then-known world.”
But the world evolved through the centuries and new natural wonders have cropped up. The new list that is being fashioned through online votes would be made not by one person but by people from places around the world.
The online voting is being managed by “The New7Wonders Foundation” that aims to undertake documentation and conservation works of monuments worldwide under the motto, “Our heritage is our future.”
Already there were comments that the online polling might be limiting rather than “democratizing” as described by organizers. Since the selection is done via the Internet, only those who could afford to have a computer and Internet connection could participate, they said. Those who belong to the “have-nots” side of the technological divide cannot.
In addition, there is no assurance the selection would lead to the protection of the natural wonder.
These reactions make sense, except that those who could vote would not lose anything if they log on to make the selection.
Once in the top seven, the selection would increase awareness on the world’s natural wonders and encourage their protection.
