Aquino arrives in LA to meet with Walt Disney execs, investors

LOS ANGELES, California — President Benigno Aquino arrived in Los Angeles early Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in Manila) to meet with potential investors, including Walt Disney International, and to speak before LA leaders.

Mr. Aquino, who just came from the recently concluded ASEAN-US summit in the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage, arrived aboard Philippine Airlines chartered flight PR001 along with members of his cabinet and staff.

At 5:25 p.m. (9:25 a.m. Manila time), Mr. Aquino will meet with Walt Disney International chair Andy Bird and Vice President for Global Public Policy Jim Filippatos.

They will discuss investment policies and the climate in the creative sector, particularly game development and animation, according to Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia, Jr.

Cuisia said Mr. Aquino would welcome an exchange of ideas on how the Philippine government could continue to support and develop the industry.

“So we’re looking also how can we work together with Walt Disney in that particular regard,” he said in an interview with RTVM.

After meeting with Disney, the President will meet with Western Digital Corporation to discuss the expansion of the firm’s operations in the Philippines. The company provides data storage solutions and has over 10,000 employees in the country.

Mr. Aquino will also meet with Aecom Enterprise Growth Solutions, which wants to learn how the Philippine government can help it expand the hiring and training of Filipino engineers because they are interested in expanding their operations, according to Cuisia.

This evening, Mr. Aquino will speak before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

He will discuss the brewing tension between the Philippines and China because of the dispute over the South China Sea.

He will also talk about security in East Asia and discuss the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the US, which would give US military forces access to and use of agreed locations in the Philippines, where they could build infrastructure and preposition assets.  SFM