Aquino, Disney execs discuss PH projects

LOS ANGELES—Hollywood studio Walt Disney International is looking to tap into more Filipino creative talents in its future ventures and is one of the three companies that prefer the Philippines as an investment venue, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

Walt Disney International is one of the three Los Angeles-based companies President Aquino visited in the city on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).

The visit came after he attended the two-day summit between US President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage.

Mr. Aquino also met with top executives of Western Digital Corp. (WDC), a data storage firm, and Aecom (Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations and Maintenance), a provider of professional technical and management support services.

“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,” Coloma said.

Walt Disney International chair Andy Bird told Mr. Aquino  it was possible the company would tap into the talent pool of creative Filipinos.

Among the Filipinos who have worked for Disney are Ronnie del Carmen, codirector of the movie “Inside Out”; Bobby Pontillas, an animator in the movie “Frozen”; Armand Serrano, visual development artist who worked on “Mulan,” “Tarzan” and “Big Hero 6,” among others; and Gini Santos, an animator for “The Incredibles.”

During his meeting with WDC, Mr. Aquino thanked the firm’s executives for employing more than 10,000 Filipinos for its Philippine operations, Coloma said.

The WDC chief executive officer, Stephen Milligan, told the President that the firm had been a highly satisfied locater in the Philippines’ export zones since 1994.

Milligan cited the support provided by the Philippine Export Zone Authority headed by Director General Lilia de Lima.

Aecom, for its part, pledged to continue to participate in large infrastructure projects. The company employs 1,230 Filipinos in its global operations and more than 1,000 in its operations in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Philippines.

Aecom is involved in the Mactan-Cebu International Airport passenger terminal building, a public-private partnership project, as concept designer; the Burgos wind and solar power project in Ilocos Norte province, which is the biggest wind power facility in Southeast Asia; and the Chevron Pandacan terminal decommissioning project.