On Tuesday, July 8, the New7Wonders announced the 21 official finalists that will contend for the New 7 Wonder Cities. Bernard Weber, Founder-President of New7Wonders, made the announcement in Lisbon, capital of Portugal.
The other finalists are:
- Bangkok
- Barcelona
- Beirut
- Chicago
- Doha
- Durban
- Havana
- Istanbul
- Kuala Lumpur
- La Paz (Bolivia)
- London
- Mendoza (Argentina)
- Mexico City
- Mumbai
- Perth
- Quito
- Reykjavik
- Saint Petersburg
- Seoul, Shenzhen
Vigan is the country’s only representative to the search for the New7Wonder Cities of the world.
After it qualified for the Top 28 official finalist candidates last year, Vigan made it the Top 21 finalists after the consolidation of votes that ended last Monday.
“I and the people of Vigan are really overwhelmed; coming from a small city with limited resources, we [are] up against large and powerful cities of the world,” said Vigan City Mayor Eva Marie S. Medina as she thanked those who supported Vigan’s campaign to be among the Top 7 world heritage cities.
“The more difficult task is ahead of us though as all the contenders are determined [ to be ] one of the new seven wonder cities of the world; we sincerely hope that the national government play a more active participation in the campaign and voting process,” she added.
Voting for the second phase, when the Top 21 cities will be trimmed down to 14 started on July 7 and will end on October 7; while the third phase, when the Top 7 cities will be chosen from the Top 14 cities will start on October 7 and end on December 7, when the Official New7Wonders Cities will be announced.
The city government asked President Aquino to endorse Vigan’s bid in the New7Wonder Cities before the elimination ends on July 7.
The President’s endorsement, Medina said, “will be a big boost to our bid.”
She said that awareness is a crucial component in the city’s campaign to win, noting that many Filipinos are still unaware of the global competition.
Voting continues until the contenders will be reduced to 14 on October 2. The top seven cities will be announced on December 7. The public may vote via new7wonders.com; international telephone voting lines; and national SMS.
Vigan, dubbed as the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia, was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1999. It is one of the six Unesco World Heritage Sites in the Philippines.