Filipinos should all unite and vote for Puerto Princesa Underground River as one of the New7Wonders of Nature. The last time I saw the ranking we were on #7 but today we slipped to the #8 spot! But definitely we can win this =)

Vote now! How? It's so easy! To vote for the Puerto Princesa Underground River, simply send PPUR, PPUR7 or PPUR15 to 2861 (all networks). Each vote cast is worth P2.50. The “7” and “15” suffix in the message indicate the number of votes you wish to cast. Multiple votes by SMS are allowed until the midnight of Aug. 8, 2011. From Aug. 8 to Nov. 8, 2011, each cell number will be allowed only one vote each. For online votes, register at www.new7wonders.com. Only one vote is allowed for each registered e-mail address.

Here are the 28 Finalist of New7Wonders of Nature:

• Amazon: South America
• Angel Falls: Venezuela
• Bay of Fundy: Canada
• Black Forest: Germany
• Bu Tinah Island: United Arab Emirates
• Cliffs of Moher: Ireland
• Dead Sea: Israel, Jordan, Palestine
• El Yunque: Puerto Rico
• Galapagos: Ecuador
• Grand Canyon: USA
• Great Barrier Reef: Australia, PNG
• Halong Bay: Viet Nam
• Iguazu Falls: Argentina, Brazil
• Jeita Grotto: Lebanon
• Jeju Island: Korea (south)
• Kilimanjaro: Tanzania
• Komodo: Indonesia
• Maldives: Maldives
• Masurian Lake District: Poland
• Matterhorn/Cervino: Italy, Switzerland
• Milford Sound: New Zealand
• Mud Volcanoes: Azerbaijan
• PP Underground River: Philippines
• Sundarbans: Bangladesh, India
• Table Mountain: South Africa
• Uluru: Australia
• Vesuvius: Italy
• Yushan: Chinese Taipei

The Department of Education intends to call on the support of both public and private school sectors in voting for the Puerto Princesa Underground River in a bid to name it one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

DepEd Assistant Secretary Tonisito Umali says the department will be issuing a memorandum, which would enjoin all its officials and staff to actively promote the participation of students and their families in the campaign.

Umali made the announcement during the media launch of the campaign sponsored by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The campaign intends to enjoin Filipinos here and abroad to vote for the Puerto Princesa Underground River in the contest.

The Puerto Princesa Underground River is the sole nominee from the Philippines. Presently, it ranks eight among 28 nominees in ongoing online and SMS voting campaigns worldwide. The DENR says there has been a “slowdown” in votes for the Philippine natural wonder, which is considered to be “one of the jewels” of Palawan, regarded to be one of the country’s last frontiers for environmental conservation.

Umali said the education sector could deliver more than 22 million votes if mobilized for the campaign. There are 22.05 million students in the public school sector, while another 3.6 million come from the private school sector. The DepEd teaching personnel accounts for another 550,000 possible voters.

“The DepEd is the biggest bureaucracy in the national government,” the official explains. “This is a continuous effort, and not just a one time thing. At all our meetings now, the first part of any agenda is that we all vote for the Puerto Princesa Underground River. This practice is currently being practiced down the line, from the division offices to the district levels.”

ASec Umali says the DepEd will be launching a variety of projects to support the Puerto Princesa Underground River campaign. There will be a poster campaign to educate students and their families on how to cast their votes. There will also be traveling information booths that will personally teach and enjoin the public to vote.

The media launch, which was attended by Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje, and Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, was followed by the issuance of Presidential Proclamation No. 182 declaring a national and international promotion campaign for the Puerto Princesa Underground River. The proclamation also created a campaign task force with the DILG secretary as chair and Tourism secretary as vice-chair to vigorously promote for the naming of the Puerto Princesa Underground River as among the New 7 Wonders of the World.

The New 7 Wonders of the World campaign is led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber. The campaign follows an earlier campaign held from 2001 to 2007, and which attracted 100 million voters worldwide. In 2007, 440 sites were nominated for the distinction. This list was trimmed down to 77 nominees. The second round of the contest saw a panel of judges further trimming down the number to the final 28 nominees. The selection was based on the unique beauty of the nominated site, the diversity and distributions across the globe, the site’s ecological significance, and its historical legacy. The final round of voting was started in 2009, and will conclude on the midnight of Nov. 10, 2011. The winners will be announced on Nov. 11, 2011.