Palace to texters: Don’t delete text votes for underground river yet

Malacañang on Saturday advised Filipinos who sent text votes for the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) in Palawan as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature not to delete their text votes yet, saying the validation is not over at this time. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte cited reports of many Filipino texters who did not receive a confirmation that their votes for the PPUR had been registered. “Keep the text messages. If there is a problem during the validation, those ‘unconfirmed’ votes will be the proof that many people voted for the PPUR)," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She said the Palace had received many questions why they did not get a text message confirming that their text votes had been registered. Valte hinted the Palace will verify with organizers and administrators of the text votes if the failure to confirm text votes was due to the influx of messages especially in the last few hours of the voting period. “Itatanong natin sa organizers and administrators. May nagsabi na sa influx ng text messages di naka-send," she said. Otherwise, Valte said the show of support for the PPUR had been “overwhelming," with reminders on social media urging Filipinos to send their votes. Earlier, Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, said the PPUR was among the “provisional" seven new wonders of nature, based on the first count of votes. Weber said the the results will now be checked, validated and independently verified, with the process likely to be completed in early 2012. “It may happen that one or more of the provisional winners announced today will not be confirmed during the validation process, New7Wonders will issue a media update should this happen," he said. Still, the provisional nature of the distinction did not stop other Philippine officials from celebrating early. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, in a statement read by Valte, said he was “heartened" to hear the PPUR is one of the provisional winners. “While the final results will be announced in 2012 we congratulate everyone especially our people who made this all possible. With this we sincerely hope the rest of the world will stand up and notice the majesty not just of the UR but the rest of the Philippines," he said. A report Saturday morning on dzBB’s Palawan affiliate said Palawan officials had planned activities to celebrate the “provisional" achievement. — LBG, GMA News