‘Thousands of jobs’ await Filipinos upon PNoy’s return from US
Thousands of new jobs will be generated by President Benigno Aquino IIIâs week-long working visit to the United States, a tour of duty that will end on Tuesday (Manila time) upon his expected return to Manila. In a radio interview Sunday, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) head Herminio Coloma said employment opportunities are just one of the âmany successes" of Aquinoâs debut on the international stage. âWe saw in this past week the working visit of our president in the US. We should be happy with commitments of thousands of new jobs for our countrymen and new investments that would rejuvenate the economy. We have many successes in the trip," Coloma told government-run Radyo ng Bayan in the interview. Coloma said global leaders whom President Aquino met in the US gave âhigh marks" to the Philippine economy. With the US governmentâs $434-million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) development and anti-corruption grant, Coloma said Filipinos should have the mindset that the new administration can eradicate corruption through accountability. Last week, the Philippines and the US signed the five-year development compact. Present at the signing were President Aquino and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who chairs the MCC Board. She said the US wants to see real results from the grant. Aside from the signing of the MCC grant, the Philippine delegationâs activities consisted of the following, among others:
- Mr. Aquinoâs one-on-one talk with US President Barack Obama;
- President Aquinoâs meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong where the two discussed economic relations
- President Aquinoâs attendance at the United Nations General Assembly and meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
- President Aquinoâs attendance at the ASEAN-US (Association of Southeast Asian Nations - United States) leadersâ meeting