Friday, September 17, 2010

Noynoy promises more jobs for Pinoys from US trip

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III is expected to bring home more than a thousand jobs for Filipinos from his trip to the United States next week.

“We are not talking a hundred, two hundred jobs. We are not even talking a thousand. We are talking more than that,” President Aquino said.

Aquino is scheduled to meet with executives of big companies in the US like the IBM and Hewlett Packard in the hopes of encouraging them to invest in the country to create more jobs in the Philippines.

The President will also give a speech in the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

He is also scheduled to meet with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders and US President Barack Obama.

However, it is still unsure if Aquino will get a one-on-one opportunity to talk with the US President.

“Principally, we are hoping to get [to] talk to President Obama but we are sure to be able to talk to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. As you know, they have been helping us with our issues with MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front] in Mindanao. And we think we can say with optimism that we are even exerting greater effort to achieve that lasting peace,” Aquino said.

While in the US, Aquino will formally receive the US$434-million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The grant will be used to fund projects of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Social Work and Development and for highway repairs in Samar province.

Aside from meeting world leaders, Aquino will meet with non government organizations to tap their help in improving the science school system in the country.

He will also receive an award from the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York where his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, studied.

Aquino will be accompanied by more than 30 businessmen and some members of his Cabinet

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