Controversial Coron resort to push through–DOT

No corals would be destroyed.

This was the only assurance that Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said was needed from the proponents of the Nickelodeon resort, which would be built on a 100-hectare area on Coron island, one of Palawan province’s top tourist destinations.

“They’re going to push through with it,” Teo said in a television interview.

“We are not going to destroy the corals,” Teo said. “We will preserve them.”

In a statement that followed the interview, Teo said the Department of Tourism (DOT), though “excited” about the project, would have to defer to “appropriate agencies” for the permits and approval that the project proponents needed to start construction.

“From a tourism perspective, the DOT is excited about the idea,” she said.

Not ‘underwater’

The developer, Coral World Park Undersea Resorts Inc. (CWP), had clarified that the project was not an underwater theme park, but an undersea-themed project that would be land-based.

Teo said the project was not under the auspices of the DOT and that the developer was dealing with the local government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Teo said she had been convinced to support the project after the developer showed her maps and development plans.

Extra effort to explain

Local government officials, who had expressed opposition to the project, “probably did not understand it,” Teo said.

She said the developer had made an extra effort to explain “that’s why I got it.”

The project would feature a floating restaurant designed to have transparent floors to allow patrons to see the coral reefs  underneath, Teo said.

She said proponents had thought of bringing the project to Indonesia but chose the Philippines instead.

The developer would also build hotels and condominiums, she said.

Nickelodeon project

Nickelodeon’s parent firm, Viacom, announced the project in January. Famous Nickelodeon characters, like “Spongebob” and “Dora,”  would be features.

That statement had said “underwater restaurants and lounges will be located about 20 feet below sea level with vivid views of the world beneath the ocean.”

Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez had publicly opposed the park, citing concerns about the marine ecosystem.

Netizens also launched an online petition opposing the project.