Young Roots
Viva, Vigan!
By Johanne Margarette R. Macob
BECAUSE the success of a fellow is ours, too.
The inclusion of Vigan City in the 21 finalists for the New 7 Wonders Cities was announced last Monday (July 8), from a list of 77 cities announced in October 2013, chosen from over 300 cities initially considered. Such is but another milestone not just for the city alone, but for the whole country.
I have been in Vigan once, way back 2011. A stroll through the historic Calle Crisologo or Mena Crisologo Street brought me back to the Philippine Spanish colonial time. The Calle is made up of four blocks of cobblestone streets with Spanish-style houses that were said to be homes to Filipino-Chinese traders who earned their fortune from trading cloth, gold, tobacco, among others within and beyond the City. I was taken by the architecture of the heritage abodes with their red-tiled roofs, sturdy walls, windows made of capiz shells, huge doors, high ceilings, and all the intricate woodcraft. Just beautiful.
Nowadays, these houses, which survived calamities through centuries, have been turned into museums, shops, restaurants, inns, etc. During the day, one would find great enjoyment to have a taste of Vigan’s best products such as empanada, chichacorn, and basi wine. At night, the Calle is more magical and antique-looking, with all its sepia-toned lights.
No wonder, lamp-lit Vigan was named in 1999, one of the six United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage Sites in the Philippines, for having preserved the 18th century Spanish town in the continent. And in 2012, Vigan City was cited as UNESCO’s first-ever “Best practice in World Heritage Site Management,” outdoing 27 other cities from 23 countries, for having managed its city with “relatively limited resources.”
And with its new endeavor to be one of the New 7 Wonders- Cities of the World, the city of Vigan, capital of Ilocos Sur, needs every possible support we all can give. By the way, we can vote via new7wonders.com, international telephone voting lines, and national SMS.
Other 20 finalists in the search are Asian cities Bangkok, Beirut, Doha, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Perth, Seoul, and Shenzen; and Barcelona, Chicago, Durban, Havana, Paz, London, Mendoza, Mexico, Quito, Reykjavik, and Saint Petersburg.
From 21, the Swiss firm New7Wonders will reduce the finalists to 14 on October 2 and the top seven will be announced on December 7 (keep your fingers crossed).
We were able to do it in 2011 for our very-own Palawan’s Subterranean River National Park (underground river) when it was named as one of the world’s New 7 Wonders of Nature, we certainly can do it again. I believe even our provincial (and of course, national government) will support Vigan this time. The pride of Palawan and Vigan is our pride as a nation.
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