NEW YORK CITY – The Coca Cola Corp., the world’s largest beverage company, will venture into a $1-billion expansion in the Philippines in the next five years.

With the growth plans of the giant soft drink company, President Arroyo said Sunday Coca-Cola becomes the latest member of the billion-dollar-club of investors in the Philippines.

Mrs. Arroyo had earlier met with executives of Coca Cola Corp. as well as other business tycoons and financial leaders at the Waldorf Astoria while visiting New York City, the “Big Apple.” She is expected to leave the Big Apple on Monday and return to Manila on Wednesday.

“This morning we met with Coca-Cola executives who had just bought back their plant a couple of years ago with $100 million. But today, they announced their expansion plan that will total, including what they put in since they bought the firm back and what they will put into the next few years, $1 billion,” she said in her remarks during an assembly of Filipino community leaders at the Sheraton Hotel in Newark.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the expansion of the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Corp. includes the construction of a new softdrink plant as well as the improvement of distribution networks in five years.

As part of its corporate social responsibility Remonde said, the company also plans to build “Little Red Schools” across the country to provide primary education for less fortunate children, and produce healthy drinks for poor Filipino children.

Remonde said Coca-Cola Philippines has linked up with the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of science and Technology (DoST) to help address iron-anemia deficiency in the Philippines by providing malnourished schoolchildren since 2005 with NutriJuice fortified with iron, zinc, lysine, and vitamins A and C.

From 2009 to 2010, the company plans to distribute NutriJuice to over 30,000 schoolchildren for 120 feeding days in the provinces of Quirino, Zambales, Palawan, Davao, Bukidnon, and the cities of Tacloban, Marikina, Taguig, and Pasig.

In 2007, the Coca-Cola Company acquired San Miguel Corporation’s 65 percent shares in Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) amounting to $590 million. San Miguel was previously the majority shareholder of CCBPI and has management control of the bottler.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President also met with officials of the George Soros Fund, or the Chardan Capital, who expressed interest to develop Batangas port and its adjoining areas into a modern logistics hub. Ermita said the business visitors were accompanied by Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas.