TROPICAL PHILIPPINES: January 2011

Asia's first underwater resort hotel to be built off Philippine island

ANN - Sunday, January 16SendIM StoryPrint.Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The Philippines is all set to embrace a futuristic undersea project to rival those in Maldives, Dubai and Fiji, according to a Filipino team of developer and architects, which is set to build an underwater resort hotel in Palawan.

Dubbed as the Coral World Park, this multibillion-peso project will set the record as Asia's first underwater resort development and the biggest undersea living in the world once the project is completed by 2013.

Picture this: You wake up to a picture perfect view of frivolously swimming manta rays and fishes or hold a meeting in a restaurant submerged in the pristine waters. Say what? All this isn't science fiction according to an all-Filipino team behind the project.

Taking the helm is Singapore-based businessman Paul Monozca, who is known for his advocacies of helping Filipino sports teams and the overseas remittance business. Partnering with Monozca is renowned eco-architect Jose Pinggoy Manosa, who will take charge of the architectural design of the Coral World Park.

It's high time we brought sustainable development underwater because there have been similar projects elsewhere in the world that have been proven successful," Monozca told Inquirer Property in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

He cited global warming and the rising water levels as factors that pushed him to look into the possibility of exploring the readiness of the country for this kind of revolutionary development.

Pegged at some $150 million, the undersea structure takes pride in its 24 undersea suites or pods called "Anemones," which are submerged 60 feet below sea level with a fascinating 270-degree view of the sea. The 15-foot-high Anemones will be built by a US firm that specializes in submarines.

Several units of these Anemones will be open for public viewing at reasonable rates while majority are for ownership. Each 50-square-meter Anemone (the size of two-bedroom condo unit) can be customized per owner's preference. It can be used as a private villa, a receiving or entertainment room that could cater to as many as 15 people.

Filipino ingenuity

How can one move from one pod/suite to another? The Coral World Park will be built with submarine technology. The mode of transport will be through glass bottom mini-submarines to be powered by the first mobile hydropower system, which generates up to 1 megawatt of electricity. This will use a patented water recycling and pressure chamber invented by an all-Filipino team of engineers, Monozca said.

The project will show to the world Filipino ingenuity as 80 percent of the project will be run and manned by Filipinos, from engineers to architects down to personnel," Monozca said. When completed, the proposed underwater habitat will be the biggest in the world.

Also part of the futuristic project is a 50-bedroom onland boutique hotel complete with amenities like casinos, spa, business center and an underwater restaurant to be named �Starfish," which could seat as many as 200 people in its 600-square-meter dining area. A seahorse-shaped science center aptly called �Seahorse Science Center� will be built for tourists and will serve as the park�s marine observatory and conservation center showcasing the richness of marine life in the Philippines.

The project is expected to pour in billions of investments and will help create thousands of jobs for the people in Palawan and neighboring provinces.

Conservation tourism

Funding will come from Monozca's Monaco-based group, which counts investors from the United States, the Middle East and Russia. As an aggressive venture in ecotourism business, the project also aims to replenish the coral reefs in the area and would advocate conservation tourism in the country.

Monozca related that everything has been in the planning stage since last year. He identified a group of islands in Coron as the site for development owing to its perfect geography, clear and cove-protected waters and rich marine life. The islands of Palawan hardly experience earthquakes and are not prone to visiting typhoons that occasionally hit the country.
The construction is set to start soon and will be completed in two years, according to Manosa, who said this would be my biggest project so far in my professional career." Manosa is behind some of the biggest projects like the San Miguel Building constructed in the 1980s and the Brent International School.

I was overwhelmed myself when the project was offered to me. Even my family is excited about this; my grandchildren are asking when they could visit the underwater resort," Manosa said.

The group dispelled fears of security as the whole resort will be tightly guarded. The proponents also envision a cashless system of transaction as everything will be made via specially issued bracelet cards similar to the function of a credit card.

The group promised strict adherence to protect the environment and the biodiversity of Palawan. They said no marine life will be harmed during the course of its construction to its operations.

COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Climate of the Philippines

The Climate of the Philippines is tropical and maritime. It is characterized by relatively high temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall. It is similar in many respects to the climate of the countries of Central America. Temperature, humidity, and rainfall, which are discussed hereunder, are the most important elements of the country's weather and climate.

Temperature

Based on the average of all weather stations in the Philippines, excluding Baguio, the mean annual temperature is 26.6^o C. The coolest months fall in January with a mean temperature of 25.5^o C while the warmest month occurs in May with a mean temperature of 28.3^o C. Latitude is an insignificant factor in the variation of temperature while altitude shows greater contrast in temperature. Thus, the mean annual temperature of Baguio with an elevation of 1,500 meters is 18.3^o C. This makes the temperature of Baguio comparable with those in the temperate climate and because of this, it is known as the summer capital of the Philippines.

The difference between the mean annual temperature of the southernmost station in Zamboanga and that of the northermost station in Laoag is insignificant. In other words, there is essentially no difference in the mean annual temperature of places in Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao measured at or near sea level.

Humidity

Humidity refers to the moisture content of the atmosphere. Due to high temperature and the surrounding bodies of water, the Philippines has a high relative humidity. The average monthly relative humidty varies between 71 percent in March and 85 percent in September. The combination of warm temperature and high relative and absolute humidities give rise to high sensible temperature throughout the archipelago. It is especially uncomfortable during March to May, when temperature and humidity attain their maximum levels.

Rainfall

Rainfall is the most important climatic element in the Philippines. Rainfall distribution throughout the country varies from one region to another, depending upon the direction of the moisture-bearing winds and the location of the mountain systems.

The mean annual rainfall of the Philippines varies from 965 to 4,064 millimeters annually. Baguio City, eastern Samar, and eastern Surigao receive the greatest amount of rainfall while the southern portion of Cotabato receives the least amount of rain. At General Santos City in Cotabato, the average annual rainfall is only 978 millimeters.

The Seasons

Using temperature and rainfall as bases, the climate of the country can be divided into two major seasons: (1) the rainy season, from June to November; and (2) the dry season, from December to May. The dry season may be subdivided further into (a) the cool dry season, from December to February; and (b) the hot dry season, from March to May.

Typhoons have a great influence on the climate and weather conditions of the Philippines. A great portion of the rainfall, humidity and cloudiness are due to the influence of typhoons. They generally originate in the region of the Marianas and Caroline Islands of the Pacific Ocean which have the same latitudinal location as Mindanao. Their movements follow a northwesterly direction, sparing Mindanao from being directly hit by majorty of the typhoons that cross the country. This makes the southern Philippines very desirable for agriculture and industrial development.

Climate Map

About the Philippines

THE PHILIPPINES

Geography: The Philippine archipelago is composed of 7107 islands comprising a total land area of about 300,000 square kilometers and a total coastline of around 34,539 kilometers. In size, it is bigger than Great Britain and twice the size of Greece. The entire archipelago is divided into three major groups of islands which are Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Five prominent bodies of water surround the archipelago, namely: the Pacific Ocean, the Philippine Sea, the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, and Celebes Sea.

Climate: The Philippine's tropical climate has a relatively high humidity, mild temperature, abundant rainfall and gentle winds with three pronounced seasons: wet or rainy season from June to October; cool and dry from November to February; hot and dry from March to May.

Language: There are 11 cultural and racial groups, each with it's own language. The major linguistic groups are Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray, Pampango and Pangasinan. English is widely used in government, business, and as a medium of instruction in schools. Spanish, Arabic and Chinese are spoken by only a minority of the population.

History: Long before the Europeans came to Asia, the Filipinos were already civilized. They possessed a Malayan civilization which had been enriched by Indian, Chinese and Arabic influences. On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese voyager in Spain's service, made the first European contact with the Filipinos after which followed three centuries of Spanish Colonial rule. Towards the end of the 19th century, Jose Rizal, a multi-faceted genius led the reform movement. Rizal is the country's national hero and is regarded as Southeast Asia's first martyr to nationalism. On June 1898, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declared the independence of the Philippines from Spain at Kawit, Cavite. That independence was short-lived, however, since the American again colonized the country for almost 50 years. On July 4, 1946, independence was gained from the Americans. The colonial experience wrought under the Spanish and American administration has left it's mark on Filipino religion, language and culture.

World's Largest Underwater Hotel to Rise in the Philippines

Climate of the Philippines