President Aquino recently went to the United States of America (USA) as his first official trip abroad as chief executive. After one week of his working visit in the USA, the President went home with good news to share. Keeping up with his promise to create more local jobs so that Filipinos do not have to leave the country to work, Aquino said that we can expect 43,000 new employment opportunities for Filipino workers in the country in the next three years.

Aquino announced the good news when he arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), adding that the new local jobs is made possible because his delegation secured USD2.4 billion worth of investment and a grant of USD434 million by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for social welfare programs.

The President said, "It's good to be home. In the last week during our visit to the United States, we were able to send our message across: the Philippines is open for business."

Aquino also said that after attending more than 40 meetings with political, business, and civil society leaders in America, a number of investors in America expressed willingness to invest in our country

Aquino said, "These meetings covered a wide range of sectors such as power generation, consumer products, business and knowledge process outsourcing, health care, and garments and leather goods."

 "We were able to secure a commitment of at least 43,650 new jobs in the next three years, including some 4,500 in construction related jobs. And because of the multiplier effect, we estimate 200,000 more jobs to benefit our countrymen," he added.

The President cited examples of US-based corporations in the country that would expand its operation and therefore would need more local workers. One is the AES Corporation which will expand the capacity of its Masinloc coal-fired power plant by up to 660 megawatts. The expansion cost is estimated at USD1 billion and the construction of the plant may take up to four years creating 1500 new jobs for plant operations.

Aquino added, “Beverage giant Coca-Cola will also invest $1 billion in the Philippines for the "upgrading and replacement of equipment and creation of new products and processes."

Aside from the two US companies mentioned, the President also said that more companies are expected to invest a total of USD400 million. Some of these companies are Pfizer, Hewlett-Packard (HP), JPMorgan Chase, General Electric (GE), and several others.