Fireworks
in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan (western Philippines) greeted recently the
news that the Palawan Underground River had been named among the world’s new
seven wonders of nature.
Although the election owes partly to
Filipinos’ online savvy, it is also true that the underground river, with its
“cathedral” of stalactites and stalagmites, really deserves the honor. It is
truly an awesome wonder of nature.
But the list of winners is considered
provisional because the votes are still being checked, validated and
independently verified, according to the Swiss-based New7 Wonders Foundation,
which organised the global survey.
The final list will be made early next year,
but Mayor Edward Hagedorn said he and other Palawan officials are confident
that the Philippines’ entry will stay in the final seven. The other six natural
wonders on the list are Argentina’s Iguazu Falls, South Korea’s Jeju Island,
Indonesia’s Komodo Island, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, South America’s Amazon
rainforest and South Africa’s Table Mountain.
Believed to be the world’s longest, the
8.2-kilometre Underground River winds through a cave before flowing directly
into the sea, with caverns and limestones that look like the vaults and domes
of cathedrals and with natural rock formations that look like colossal
sculptures.
The subterranean river is a treasure trove of
information for scientists studying how the Earth evolved. At least 11 minerals
have been found in the Underground River, stunning experts who said that only a
few caves in the world have more than three or four minerals.
The Underground River likewise supports one of
the major biodiversity areas in the country. "The Almighty wrought this
masterpiece of nature," said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, who was the
national campaign manager of the government’s push for the listing of the
Underground River. To that, we say, "Amen".
But there are risks now that the Underground
River has moved from being a "local to a global jewel", as Paje rather
triumphantly put it. The main risk was unwittingly mentioned by deputy
presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte when she quite naively declared that
the listing would trigger a tourism boom for the country.
The optimism flies in the face of historic efforts
of Hagedorn and Puerto Princesa officials to regulate tourism lest it degrade
the Underground River and Palawan’s great biodiversity.
Be that as it may, the expected tourist influx
would be a "welcome problem," according to Hagedorn. "We are up
to the challenge," he added. "We view the Underground River’s
recognition as a perfect opportunity to again showcase our commitment to
preserve our natural environment as our legacy to the whole world."
But there’s really cause for worry. Philippine
management of eco-cultural sites has been woefully poor. The Banaue Rice
Terraces, declared by the Unesco as a World Heritage Site, are crumbling not only
because of floods and giant earthworms but also because of official neglect and
communal abandonment.
What the ancient Ifugaos carved and tilled for
thousands of years are expected to be lost in the next decades by a new
generation of Cordillerans lured by white-collar professions in Manila and
alienated by the agrarian grace of old. The so-called stairway to heaven is
expected to crash down to earth sooner or later.
No image sends the message across that Banaue
is a beautiful fiction and soon a beautiful dream more than the sight of the
Ifugao dressed in traditional loincloth and costume, offering himself to be
photographed for tawdry tourist snapshots or postcards for a few dollars more.
In short, tourism, which, lest we forget, is a form of marketing, has debased
and trivialised just about every cultural community or practice and just about
every natural site. The real wonder of wonders is tourism, its sheer power at
gimmickry and crass commercialism.
But Philippine tourism is its own worst enemy.
The Philippines proclaims itself as a nation of hospitable people but the
country is hardly hospitable to either tourist or local.
Our international airport terminals are dirty,
dangerous and hardly tourist-friendly. Our streets and tourist parks are mean,
grimy and fatal—a dozen foreign tourists were killed in the park named after
the national hero in 2009. Loose firearms have abetted shootings in shopping
malls and the killings of European Catholic missionaries in Mindanao.
Palawan has its great underground river but
the rest of the country is an underworld.
Editorial Desk
Philippine Daily Inquirer
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