88 Sarah Webb
In both appreciative acknowledgments of citizens’ support for the campaign
and more cynical commentaries, the success of the PPUR-N7WN campaign was
largely attributed to the text-voting capacity and willingness of mobile-savvy
Filipinos. In a speech given during his own text vote-casting, President Aquino
III declared, “In the Philippines, we have no less than 80 million cellphone users,
sending nearly two billion text messages every day. All we need is one billion
votes—so that is half a day” (Aquino 2011).
The President’s confidence referred to the pivotal role of text messaging
in mediating everyday life across the Philippines (see Pertierra 2002). The
potential to “mobilize” this expertise and familiarity with texting on such a
national scale was enhanced by the high value placed by many Filipinos upon
“standing together” and the importance accorded to the prestige of awards and
competitions. For many, practices of supporting the campaign through voting or
promotion embodied the pride associated with a bayanihan-spirited communal
pursuit of a nationally desirable and beneficial goal.^5 As such, it was not only the
integrity of the Underground River as a Wonder of Nature that was a source of
pride but also the collective ability of Filipino people to make a Philippine nature
globally recognized and appreciated. Additionally inspirational was the notion
that this recognition offered potential productive opportunities for the nation’s
environmental and economic future, particularly through ecotourism revenue.
A key aspiration of the promotion was the attraction of the spending by more
foreign tourists. During the aforementioned speech, President Aquino suggested
that voting enabled Filipinos to “take part in this democracy-in-action on behalf
of our own environment” and “help the Puerto Princesa Underground River, as
well as the Philippines, garner a distinct spot on the international tourist map”
(Aquino 2011). Similar ambitions were publicized by the chairman of the PPUR
Task Force, Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse M.
Robredo and then Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn (Santos 2011;
Philippine Information Agency 2012).
While the voting and promotion of the Underground River was largely located
beyond central Palawan, these practices spurred two important flows to and
from the region: first, the traffic in images and meanings of the Underground
River throughout the Philippines and beyond; and, second, a dramatic increase
in tourists visiting the Underground River. Yet, despite the emphasis on attracting
foreign tourists, it was the mobilization of enormous numbers of (largely middle-
class) Filipino tourists who not only supported tourist markets but transformed
what it meant to visit this particular site of national, natural heritage.
Visiting a wondrous nature
The PPUR-N7WN campaign significantly impacted on tourist flows to
central Palawan (particularly between downtown Puerto Princesa City and the
Underground River via Sabang) and furthered the reputation of Palawan as the
“ecotourism capital of the Philippines” (Rasch 2014, p. 242). In the lead-up to
the November 2011 announcement of the N7WN winners, Filipino tourists from