Skip to content

Puerto Princesa Underground River

“This honor reminds us of how truly blessed our country is,” says President Aquino

President Benigno Aquino III (left) addresses Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders (right) during the Official Inauguration Ceremonies the PPUR in Manila last night.
President Benigno Aquino III (left) addresses Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders (right), during the Official Inauguration Ceremonies the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Manila last night.

What’s next for the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR), now that it is officially one of the New7Wonders of Nature? Well, the next step, according to President Benigno Aquino III, is that Filipinos should move from being its promoters to being its responsible stewards. He made this appeal last night during the Official Inauguration of the PPUR in Manila.

“This honor reminds us of how truly blessed our country is — and of how it is our task as Filipinos not to take these blessings for granted. We have to act as responsible stewards,” he said in remarks reported widely in the Philippines media. This means, “valuing our natural resources and ensuring the environmental sustainability of all our development efforts.”

As well, tourism must be “nurtured and sustained,” with the best way to do it being to take care of sites like PPUR “not in words but most importantly in deeds,” quoted GMA News in a story titled “PNoy stresses responsible stewardship of PPUR“, and continued:

“The president lauded the collective success of Filipinos in making the PPUR one of the world’s wonders of nature. “In the face of tremendous competition — when we got to the finalist round, there were 27 other finalists and millions of other voters from all over the world — we pulled together, and once again put the Philippines on the map,” he said. “I thank everyone who participated in this effort — from those who led the campaign, but most especially, to those who joined us in sending their text and Internet votes,” he added.

The Official Inauguration ceremonies continue today at the site of the Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan Province.

Latest News

New7Wonders continues, find out how in our News Room

New7Wonders launches “7 Wonders of Future Cities” – celebrating the next generation of urban innovation

Dubai, 20 October 2025 New7Wonders, the global official authority for voting for Wonders, behind the world’s most popular public votes on natural and man-made marvels, today announced the soft launch of its newest worldwide voting campaign: 7 Wonders of Future Cities. This initiative will identify and celebrate the most forward-thinking, sustainable, and technologically empowered urban … Continued

7 Wonders Day imagines the symbolic connection between generations

On 7 Wonders Day 2025, we honour and celebrate the official New 7 Wonders of the World and the New7Wonders global movement, with a symbolic passing of a “7” between the a person from the original times of each Wonder to someone from today, a worldwide connection between past, present and future. Bernard Weber, the … Continued

Bernard Weber Joins Global Visionaries in Authoring an Inspirational Book Launched at the United Nations

Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders was invited to contribute to a groundbreaking initiative, “Vision for the Future”, an e-book designed to capture and share inspiring success stories from leaders and changemakers around the world, featuring the personal narratives from 25 visionaries who are making a significant impact in their respective fields. Vision For The Future … Continued

Petra honours all the New 7 Wonders of the World on 7 Wonders Day

On July 7, the official 7 Wonders Day around the world, Petra celebrates and honours all the New 7 Wonders of the World, with a visual recreation, by people standing together, of a human number “7” next to the historical treasury site in Jordan. With this 7 symbol, as well as other events to celebrate … Continued

Symbolic giant human “7” created at Machu Picchu, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World

To mark the official 7 Wonders Day, celebrated on 7 July every year around the world, Machu Picchu organises the highest-ever altitude recreation of a giant human number “7”. With this striking visual, Machu Picchu honours the world’s first-ever global vote to elect the New 7 Wonders of the World, a campaign organised by the … Continued