(LOS ANGELES, California) As part of the agenda of his working visit to the city, President Benigno S. Aquino III on Tuesday met with top executives of three leading global corporations based in Los Angeles.
Following his participation in the Special US-ASEAN Summit at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, President Aquino and the Philippine delegation traveled to Los Angeles for a two-day working visit.
President Aquino began his working visit with a series of business meetings at the Intercontinental Hotel. He met first with the executives of Walt Disney International, followed by Western Digital Corporation, and then AECOM’s Enterprise Growth Solutions.
“All three companies signified to the President their top-of-mind preference for the Philippines as an investment venue and source of high-quality talent and for Philippine organizations as business partners,” Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., who joined the President in the meetings, said.
During the meeting, Secretary Coloma said Walt Disney Chairperson Andy Bird told the President that there are possibilities for tapping into the robust talent pool of creative Filipinos just like Ronnie del Carmen (co-director of Pixar’s Inside Out), Bobby Pontillas (one of the animators for Disney’s Frozen), Armand Serrano (Visual Development artist for Walt Disney Animation Studio who worked on Mulan, Tarzan, and Big Hero 6, among others), and Gini Santos (one of the animators for Pixar’s The Incredibles).
Secretary Coloma said Bird also cited Walt Disney’s commercial partnerships with big Philippine corporations, such as the SM Group and Globe Telecoms.
Walt Disney is one of the world’s biggest mass media and entertainment conglomerates and most recognizable brands.
President Aquino also spoke with officials of Western Digital Corporation (WDC), a global provider of solutions for the collection, storage, management, protection and use of digital content.
During the meeting, Secretary Coloma said President Aquino thanked WDC for employing over 10,000 Filipinos in its Philippine operations in various fields including manufacturing, engineering, quality, information technology, finance, site operations, human resources, and supply chain management.
Stephen Milligan, WDC chief executive officer, told the President that since 1994, their company has been a highly satisfied locator in the country’s export zones, on account of the excellent support provided by the Philippine Export Zone Authority headed by Director-General Lilia de Lima.
On Tuesday, President Aquino also had a meeting with officials of AECOM’s Enterprise Growth Solutions.
AECOM (Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations, and Maintenance) employs 1,230 Filipinos in its global operations and over a 1,000 more in its Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Philippine operations.
“They pledged to continue to participate actively in large infrastructure projects,” Secretary Coloma said.
Michael Donnelly, group President for AECOM’s Enterprise Growth Solutions was joined by Alma Madrazo, Philippines country leader, and Hugh Doyle, President for international development.
AECOM recently won the Clark Green City design competition and is also involved in, among others: the Mactan-Cebu International Airport passenger terminal building private-public partnership (PPP) project as concept designer; the Burgos wind and solar power project in Ilocos Norte, which is the biggest wind power facility in Southeast Asia; and in the Chevron Pandacan terminal decommissioning project.
President Aquino was also joined in the business meetings by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade Secretary Adrian Cristobal, Jr., Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Emmanuel Esguerra, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Climate Change Commissioner Emmanuel de Guzman, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Philippine Ambassador to US Jose Cuisia Jr.
“Much of the economic resurgence that the Philippines is experiencing today is attributable to the President’s active economic diplomacy. We have made remarkable strides in terms of restoring investor confidence and the challenge to us now is in sustaining this momentum and building on the gains we have achieved. We continue to consider US businesses as key partners in this endeavor,” Ambassador Cuisia said in a statement. PND (co)
