President Benigno Aquino III declared Monday that his seven-day working visit to the United States has been a huge success as he will be bringing home $2.8 billion (123 billion pesos) in investment pledges for the Philippines from various US companies. Speaking before members of various Filipino organizations at the Basilica of Mission Dolores in San Francisco, California, Aquino said aside from the $434 million (20-billion-peso) grant from the US-run Millennium Challenge Corporation that he has secured, he has also succeeded in drawing investments that will generate more jobs for Filipinos. “Regarding the accomplishments, there's jobs generation, a very substantial number of jobs that we're bringing home. The dollar value of the investments that are coming in, just three firms, from the others that we talked to - will be bringing in plus the Millennium Grant in the neighborhood of $2.8 billion. That will help us grow our economy and get better governance going,” Aquino said. Asked to give his US mission a grade for its accomplishments, Aquino replied, “It's difficult to put a grade because I have been taught by my parents to be humble. My father could be watching me now and hit me on the head if I become boastful.” Aquino said for the last six days of his US visit, his delegation has had 45 successful meetings, which he said were “all for the betterment of our people.” The President is scheduled to take a Philippine Airlines commercial flight (PR-104) at 1:30 P.M. (Manila time) for Manila and be home at 3:30 A.M. Tuesday. Earlier, Aquino invited foreign businessmen all over the world to invest in the Philippines, citing the more conducive business climate in the country now. He told an audience at the Citibank Economic Conference in New York City that measures are being done to simplify the process of establishing business, improving infrastructure and relaxing regulations on air travel to and from the country. He talked about the ongoing crackdown on tax evaders which he said is aimed at stopping the leaks in revenue collection. To prove his point he said in just two months, seven tax evasion cases have been filed. “Let me be crystal clear, to achieve our social goals, it is imperative that we in the Philippines create a climate for private enterprise to profit and thrive. And this is what we have begun to undertake,” he said. Aquino also took pride on the soaring local stock market which he said has hit an all-time high. He also cited the recent global peso bond offering which raised $1 billion for the Philippines, with the issue being 13 times oversubscribed. “I invite you to come see for yourselves what we're doing to make sure that the Philippines is once again open for business,” Aquino said.
