PH Ambassador to US Encourage More Import of PH Products in SoCal

From left: Seafood City Corporate Controller Elewin Rebaya shows Philippine products in Seafood City shelves to Ambassador Jose Manuel G. Romualdez, Consul General Adelio Angelito S. Cruz and Deputy Consul General Ambrosio Brian F. Enciso III. (Los Angeles PCG photo)

IRVINE 08 October 2019 — Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez, who was visiting Southern California to look for more trade promotion opportunities for the Philippine products, visited a branch of Seafood City in Irvine, California on 14 September 2019.

Seafood City, a Filipino-owned and managed grocery store, is one of the most successful Filipino-owned food retail companies in North America and is one of the leading Asian supermarkets in California. It carries Filipino brands in its Supermarkets and promotes Filipino cuisine through its eatery, “Grill City.”

The tour of its branch in Irvine gave the visiting Ambassador and his delegation a glimpse of Seafood City’s potential expansion.

During the tour, Seafood City Corporate Controller Elewin Rebaya shared the plans of the company to expand and to continuously provide employment opportunities to Filipinos who are interested to work in their branches in the United States and Canada. Also present during the visit were the representatives of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), namely, Labor Attaché Armi Evangel Peña and Atty. Miguel Ignacio Maria Castriciones, who were there for the initial link-up with the company on the possibility of hiring more Filipinos.

Ambassador Romualdez commended Seafood City for bringing Filipino flavors to the mainstream food industry in the Americas and at the same time serving as a place where Filipino-Americans can still feel connected to the Philippines. The Ambassador then encouraged Seafood City to import more Philippine products to cater to the growing population of Filipino-Americans in Southern California and to continue promoting Philippine brands.

Joining the Ambassador’s delegation were Consul General Adelio Angelito S. Cruz, Minister and Consul Gunther Emil M. Sales of the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C., Deputy Consul General Ambrosio Brian F. Enciso III, Consul Rea G. Oreta, Information Officer Mary Grace “Joss” D. Leaño and Protocol Officer Fernan M. Balicoco of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles.

Seafood City Supermarket, which opened its first store in 1989 in National City, California now has nine branches in the state and has expanded to other parts of the U.S. such as in Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, and soon in Illinois. The company is also going beyond U.S. borders with a planned branch in Canada. END

From left: Corporate Controller Rebaya, Ambasador Romualdez, and Consul General Cruz in front of Seafood City grocery store Irvine, California Branch. (Los Angeles PCG photo)

For more information, visit https://www.philippineconsulatela.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinLA/.