Tubbataha nominated to New 7 Wonders of Nature

The Tubbataha Reefs, a natural marine park in Sulu Sea between Palawan and Mindanao, has been nominated to the New Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

According to Conservation International-Philippines, Tubbataha Reefs was the only entry from the Philippines accepted by the Switzerland-based non-profit New7Wonders Foundation for inclusion in the prestigious list.

The foundation is the same organization that chose the new 7 wonders of the world, which include Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Colosseum in Italy, Taj Mahal in India, Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, and Machu Picchu in Peru.

"There were 10 sites nominated from the Philippines, but Tubbataha Reefs was the only entry accepted," said William Azucena, information officer of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project under Conservation International.

In its website, the New7Wonders Foundation said it received 200 nominations from half a million people within the first few months of the campaign.

The top 77 official nominees will be eligible for consideration by the New7Wonders of Nature panel of experts for inclusion in the group of 21 finalist candidates.

As of February 11, 2008, Tubbataha ranked 29th on the list, which is updated twice a day.

The list is composed of natural sites or natural monuments that were not created or significantly altered by humans for aesthetic reasons.

A nominated site must either be a natural site, natural monument, or landscape.
The Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh was leading the list as of yesterday, followed by Sundarbans Forest also in Bangladesh and Cocos Island in Costa Rica.

Other notable nominees were Ganges River in India, Mount Everest in Nepal, Amazon River in South America, Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Mount Fuji in Japan, Niagara Falls in Canada, Bora Bora in Polynesia, and Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.

In Southeast Asia, among the entries are Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Tubbataha in the Philippines, and Phang Nga Bay in Thailand.

“Please vote for Tubbataha. Voting is until December 31, 2008,” Azucena said.

Champion Carvers

Here is a cool story from GMANews.TV

Canada-based Filipino ice carvers Armando Baisas and his nephew, Ross Baisas, won first place in the 21st International Ice-Carving competition held in Canada on February 1 to 3, 2008. The duo's winning piece is Tunggalian (Encounter), which depicts the legendary battle of Filipino warrior Lapu-Lapu and Spanish voyager Magellan.

Their impressive ice sculpture placed first in the Pairs category and earned the People’s Choice award, besting 37 other participants in a grueling 30-hour challenge where they carved, chiseled and sawed blocks of ice into masterpieces completely frozen in time. Ross, who hails from the woodcarving town of Paete in Laguna, also brought home gold in the One Block Challenge, a two-hour competition where he transformed one block of ice into an icy sculpture to the theme of Arctic Art.

Armando is currently the chef instructor and sculptor instructor of Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa ’s premier culinary institute.

Prior to the 21st International Ice-Carving competition the uncle-nephew tandem has joined other sculpting contests.

In the 2003 Designs in Ice competition, they masterfully rendered, from ice, the life-size image of Frodo Baggins and White wizard Gandalf from the movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where they won gold and $1,000 in cash.