Choco Hills out of the list can’t be nominated either

WHY Bohol’s Chocolate Hills was deleted off the list of nominees in the current search for new seven wonders of the world, local officials and tourism stakeholders here want to know.

To compound the problem, not only is the Chocolate Hills off the list of nominees, it also could not be re-nominated either.

Several Boholanos presumed that it could be a nasty job of a computer hacker.

A hacker intentionally gains access to a secure internet website, navigates and controls any information therein as he taps into the system website.

But Boholanos, again united in campaigning for votes to finally put the wondrous hills into the top seat were all speculations about the de-listing, as of Tuesday.

The Chocolate Hills was just recently nominated and saw a dramatic climb from nowhere to number 6th last week.

But just how fast it rose, was how it got off the list Monday, when online voters and noted the sudden disappearance of the hills from the list.

“The thing is, we could probably understand if the nominee loses its place in the top seven in a day, but to be totally out of the list is unthinkable,” claimed an web-surfer who was about to cast his vote.

He also confirmed that, attempts to re-nominate the Chocolate Hills also prove to be another problem as online nominations seemingly get bounced out.

Wanting answers, Bohol Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) Tourism Committee Chair and Board Member Ester Corazon Galbreath prodded the provincial lawmakers to launch an appeal to the search organizers. She said the organizers should explain how Bohol’s marvelous Chocolate Hills and Mayon Volcano were deleted from the list.

On his part, Vice Governor Julius Caesar Herrera steered the SP to make a formal communication to the Department of Tourism to ask for enlightenment on the matter, reports said.

Bohol First District Representative and House Tourism Committee Chair Edgar Chatto, upon knowing about the incident said in interviews that would personally lead a Congressional inquiry as to why it also happened.

Rep. Chatto told the Provincial Tourism Council chairman Peter Dejaresco that he to call the DOT and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization to ask about the possible de-listing of the wondrous hills from the nominees to the new seven world wonders list.

The search is organized by New7wondersFoundation, and it aims to undertake documentation and conservation works of monuments worldwide under the motto “Our Heritage is our Future”.

As of Saturday, April 19, Bohol’s haycock hills, 1268 of them in almost similar shape and size, rose to sixth place after staying at the seventh place among the nominees for the world’s natural wonders search.

Chocolate Hills, those coralline hills in the heart of Bohol is considered the peak of all tourist destinations here.

Its natural and yet mysterious formation puts it into the prestigious search for the global wonders of the world.

Governor Erico Aumentado appointed Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Lim to spearhead the fever pitch campaign for the Chocolate hills.

While starting way down the list, campaigns intensified with practically every Boholano spreading the call for online votes through text brigades, tourism stakeholders adding spiels in their tours while internet buffs spread the call through their chat groups. (rachiu/PIA)

2 Comments

  1. hope the organizers will do something about that issue.it is something important for Bohol and its people…

  2. Chocolate Hills is now back on the list and is currently #9.

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