Surprise !!!

Dear insansapinas,

Underground Cave in Puerto Princesa'

photocredit
I remember during my salad days in the academe in the Philippines  ( kumakain pa ako ng nilagang camote tops na may bagoong at kalamansi) when a senior faculty member presented a certificate of award from a never-heard-organization as few of his documents he submitted for possible promotion in rank. Unlike in industries, the teaching staff of a university has to earn points from post graduate degrees added to the name, travels local and abroad, seminars/conferences attended or sponsored, books or papers authored and awards and citations. So bago ka maging Full Professor, dala mo isang suitcase ng papel. Ako isang trak. Toinkz.


Back to the certificate. There were groups then that sponsored WHATEVER in return for payment of membership fee, tickets for dinner for one table that accommodated at least 10 to attend the awarding ceremony. Hindi ko naman maintindihan kung ano yong award na yon.


During my salad days here in US ( asenso na ako, hindi na camote tops ang kinakain ko, spinach na o kaya ay lettuce na may croutons, nuts, eggs at may salad dressing na na dating emperor ng Rome, si Cesar) meron ditong nag-iisponsor ng mga Miss or Mrs o Mr. Philippines. Hindi mo kailangang maganda kailangang mataba lang ang iyong puso ehekkk bulsa. Tapos may sash ka na. Ganoon din ang MO (modus operandi), magbebenta o bibili ka ng ticket for dinner at a price na doble sa halaga. Kaya yong event organizer, sa resto o hotel kumukubra ng pera. Malinis.


Bakit natin pinag-uusapan ito? Hindi naman bigla na lang akong nagising at naalala ko ito.


Dahil sa balitang new7wondersoftheworld na SURPRISE, SURPRISE, humihingi raw ng bayad at iba pang million para sa promotion. Kaya pala provisional list lang yon? Eh kasi ang Indonesia, nagbackout na kasi naman magbabayad sila ng million para lang sa isang island na maliliit na dragon ang nakatira?


Besides, hindi suportado ng UNESCO ang endeavour na ito.


Ito ang balita: 

The New Seven Wonders of Nature contest, which placed the Puerto Princesa Underground River on the global tourism map, is now embroiled in a controversy involving millions of dollars in allegedly “surprise" fees.
Maldives and Indonesia withdrew their respective entries from the contest and accused organizers of forcing them to pay “surprise" fees of up to $500,000 or P21.6 million, the United Kingdom’s “The Guardian" reported.

Reklamo ng Indonesia:

We have spent around Rp 10 billion [US$1.1 million] on campaign activities over the past three years,” Jero told The Jakarta Post.
A spat emerged after the foundation said it might drop Komodo National Park from the list of finalists after the government declined to pay a $10 million licensing fee and $35 million declaration fee to host a ceremony declaring the contest’s winners.
Sapta Nirwandar, the ministry’s tourism marketing director, said that the foundation did not have an actual office.

Reklamo ng Maldives:

As early as last May, the allegations against the New7Wonders Foundation surfaced in Maldives after the country’s State Minister for Tourism Thoyyib Mohamed announced that Maldives was withdrawing from the contest “because of the unexpected demands for large sums of money from the New7Wonders organizers."
“Requests have so far included ‘sponsorship fees’ (‘platinum’ at $350,000, or two ‘gold’ at $210,000 each), and funding of a ‘World Tour’ event whereby Maldives would pay for a delegation of people to visit the country, provide hot air balloon rides, press trips, flights, accommodation, and communications," Maldives news outlet “Minivan News" reported last May.

True kaya ito?
Pinaysaamerika