Envoy urges Pinoys to support ‘Vigan’ bid to 7 Wonder Cities
Vote online: Monsanto
KUWAIT CITY, July 23: Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Lamberto V Monsanto has called on Filipinos in Kuwait on Wednesday to support the bid of the historic city of Vigan in Ilocos Sur to become one of the world’s new seven “Wonder Cities.” Vigan City is a favourite tourist destination in northern Philippines, famed for its unique colonial architecture, Spanish-era mansions lined by cobblestone streets and distinct cuisine.
Monsanto disclosed that Vigan is one of more than 1,200 nominees worldwide that has been qualified and shortlisted to the first of three finalist phases for world’s new seven wonder cities. The first phase saw the official list of finalist candidates whittled down from 28 to 21 in a global voting that started on Oct 21, 2013 and ended on July 7, 2014.
The second round of voting will run for three months, from July 7 to Oct 7, 2014, during which the 21 finalists will be reduced to 14. This list will further be reduced to the official list of seven winners after the final round of voting on Oct 7-Dec 7, 2014.
It is the lone Philippine candidate in the global competition initiated by the Swiss nonprofit New7Wonders Foundation. The contest aims to preserve the world’s manmade and natural heritage sites. The foundation was behind the campaign that named Palawan’s Underground River in Puerto Princesa City as one of the world’s New7Wonders of Nature in 2011.
“We are requesting all Filipino organisations in Kuwait to show their solidarity by advancing the goal to have Vigan included in the prestigious roster of the New 7 Wonders — Cities by encouraging its members to vote online www.new7won- ders.com,” pointed out Monsanto.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has placed Vigan in the World Heritage list in 1999, citing the city for its “best practice in sustainable conservation and management of world heritage properties.” UNESCO describes Vigan as “the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia.”
The New7Wonders Foundation has made available various channels that allow supporters to rally more votes for their bets.
Aside from using the group’s website (www.new7wonders.com), votes may be cast through mobile applications for Apple and Android devices.
The Switzerland-based foundation has also enabled international phone voting using the following numbers+881821611990; +881921611990; +34902735471; +447589975201; +447559121023; and +447559583500.
To vote by phone, callers need to put in a code—after listening to a short message—for the city they are supporting.
The code for Vigan is “28,” mainly because it was last in the alphabetically arranged list of finalists in the previous round.
The roster of 21 finalists will be further reduced to 14 for the final round, which will be announced on Oct 7. The winning seven cities will be named on Dec 17. The other cities on the Top 21 list are Bangkok, Barcelona, Beirut, Chicago, Doha, Durban, Havana, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, La Paz, London, Mendoza, Mexico City, Mumbai, Perth, Quito, Reykjavik, Saint Petersburg, Seoul and Shenzhen.
“Let’s make Vigan as one of the New Seven Wonder Cities of the World,” urged Monsanto.