No Bikini Bottom for Spongebob in Coron

Coron in Palawan province is popular among tourists for its rock formations, white sand beaches and rich marine life. —LYN RILLON

The developer of the aborted Nickelodeon “undersea-themed” resort park in Coron, Palawan, on Thursday insisted that the project would not destroy corals and the marine environment.

In a statement sent by its corporate development head Susan Lee, the Coral World Park (CWP) Undersea Resorts Inc. also said the theme park was to be developed on private property and hinted that the site might not even be on Coron island itself.

CWP and Viacom International Media Network, Nickelodeon’s parent company, have mutually decided to cease their plans for a Nickelodeon resort in Coron but this was “due mainly to the area not being ready in terms of infrastructure to host a world-class family-themed development by 2020.”

CWP said the supposed property where the park would be set up was a former mining site and did not have any tree covering, while the waters off it has low coral cover of 6 percent.

“It is also titled or is private property. Therefore, we are converting a former mining site into a tourism development contrary to reports that we are building on pristine land which is untitled—these include the Coron Island, a Tagbanua tribe area which we never had any plans of touching,” CWP said.

CWP did not reveal the exact location of the property. But based on its statement, the CWP hinted that the development project was not on Coron Island but somewhere in Coron municipality—which covers not just the island but the eastern half of Busuanga Island and several outlying islands such as Tara and Canipo.

“We have not announced our site in public till today due to numerous informal settlers in the area who are asking us to buy them out,” CWP said.

Nickelodeon said in January that it would build an “undersea attraction and resort” in Palawan that would let fans “interact with the brand and the iconic characters they love,” including SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer.

Viacom, which owns Nickelodeon, said on Wednesday it had abandoned the project.