‘Thousands of jobs’ await Filipinos upon PNoy’s return from US

Thousands of new jobs will be generated by President Benigno Aquino III’s 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 “many successes" of Aquino’s debut on the international stage. “We 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 “high marks" to the Philippine economy. With the US government’s $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 delegation’s activities consisted of the following, among others:

• Mr. Aquino’s one-on-one talk with US President Barack Obama;
• President Aquino’s meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong where the two discussed economic relations
• President Aquino’s attendance at the United Nations General Assembly and meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
• President Aquino’s attendance at the ASEAN-US (Association of Southeast Asian Nations - United States) leaders’ meeting

The President was also able to speak with business leaders to encourage foreign investments in the Philippines. President Aquino also met with officials of JP Morgan Chase & Co., Hewlett Packard, and the Philippine Development Foundation USA (PhilDev USA, the new name of the Ayala Foundation USA AF-USA). He also attended a round-table discussion with Filipino-American scientists and engineers. He also toured the Renewable Energy Testing Center (RETC) in California, where he met California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. RETC is an investment of the Zobel de Ayala and Lopez families and of Fil-Am entrepreneur Dado Banatao (PhilDev USA chair). It is dubbed as the only Filipino-owned and operated solar testing center in the world. On Monday (Manila time), President Aquino will attend Mass and speak to the Filipino community in California, an activity that would cap his trip to the US. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, in a separate Radyo ng Bayan interview, said President Aquino is expected to be back in Manila at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday. As of Sunday afternoon, President Aquino is already in San Francisco to attend a Mass at the Basilica Parish Church at Mission Dolores. Valte said President Aquino will deliver a speech before the Filipino community and hold a dialogue with them. After several interviews with some Philippine media agencies, he will leave for Manila. “The President kept telling Filipinos in the US and in the Philippines that the Philippines is under new management. Let’s wait for the good news he will deliver when he returns from the US," she said. - KBK, GMANews.TV