PUERTO PRINCESA CITY -- The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, one of the country's top natural attractions and recognized as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, was announced Wednesday as the Philippine's winning entry to the second and semi-final round of an ongoing global search for the seven new wonders of the world.

In the search being spearheaded by a Zurich-based international organization, the underground river bested six other local natural attractions in 2008's internet-based voting campaign.

The Coral Triangle region, shared between the Philippines and five other countries and representing majority of the world's corals and marine-based species, also made the cut of 226 sites from among the original 441 entries from various countries that took part in the 2008’s initial stage of voting.

"We congratulate the successful qualifying locations from the Philippines and wish them the best of luck in the second phase of voting," said Tia Vering, head of communications for the Zurich, Switzerland-based New7Wonders, in a statement.

She noted the strong and enthusiastic participation of the other national nominees that were not proceeding, many of whom already benefited from a significant increase in worldwide awareness.

Failing to hurdle the first round was erstwhile voting leader Tubbataha Reefs, also located in Palawan, Chocolate Hills, Mayon Volcano, Hundred Islands National Park, Mount Pinatubo and Taal Volcano.

Of the original 441 nominees, 180 or more than 40 percent, were eliminated, according to the organizers.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn expressed elation over the selection of the underground river in the ongoing campaign to recognize a new list of the world seven natural wonders.

He said it was an affirmation of the city's combined efforts to promote the underground river as a world class destination and its commitment to preserve a "wonderful natural heritage" for the next generations.

The New7Wonders of Nature Campaign, in a statement, said the final list of the world's seven new wonders would be selected in a process of Internet-based voting and selection by an international panel of arbitrators within a two-year period.

The qualified 261 national and multinational nominees from the 222 participating countries feature iconic locations such as the Grand Canyon, Loch Ness, the Black Forest, and Mount Fuji, alongside the Amazon, the Danube, the Dead Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Iguazu Falls, the Kalahari Desert, Mont Blanc, and Niagara Falls.

Over 1 billion votes are expected to be cast during the final rounds of the search, according to Vering.

She added that the N7W panel of experts will select the 21 finalists from the top 77 and these will be announced on July 21.

"On July 21, the third and final phase of voting will begin, and the people of the world will then have approximately two years to vote among the 21 finalists for the official New7Wonders of Nature to be revealed in 2011," Vering said.

Jamas Mendoza, protected area manager of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, said they managed to top the list among the various Philippine entries because of the wide support base of the park not only in the country but also from foreigners coming to visit it.

"We're very happy to make it to the top despite joining this campaign as a latecomer. We owe it to all the people from all over the world who have come to visit us and support us," Mendoza said.

Puerto Princesa's underground river features a two-kilometer underground navigable river set on a huge primeval karst formation located on the northwestern coast of Puerto Princesa City.

The Coral Triangle Region features an abundance of coral reef straddling the countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

Covering more than 6,500,000 square kilometers with over 600 reef-building coral species that encompass 75 percent of all species known in the world, the Region is regarded by environmental conservationists as top priority for conservation of marine life.

More than 3,000 species of fish live in the Coral Triangle, including the largest fish -- the whale shark, and the living fossil coelacanths, according to the World Wildlife Fund.