VINCENT del Rosario describes it as "a strategic alliance" that will assure the country of a steady supply of quality Hollywood films.

This is the tie-up between Viva International Pictures and Multi-Vision Plus (MVP) of India, a regional film distributor that controls five territories in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines. The agreement was formally signed in November last year, and gives the Philippines access to MVP’s catalogue of Hollywood films for distribution in the country.

Among the films that were distributed under this agreement were the horror flick "Saw IV," "The Eye" starring Jessica Alba, and the Oscar nominated film "Juno," a comedy-drama about an offbeat young woman who makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child. The movie, which has been nominated for four Oscars, stars Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera, and Jason Bateman and is directed by Jason Reitman, who is also up for a Best Director award.

Del Rosario says that under this new alliance, Filipino moviegoers will have even more to look forward to this year as they plan to bring in some of the most highly-anticipated Hollywood films. One of them is "Forbidden Kingdom," the first ever onscreen team up of Jacky Chan and Jet Li, due out in April, and "The Grudge III."

Viva International Pictures used to be the local distributor of five out of the eight major Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox, MGM, Universal, Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks. But since most of these studios have already opened up their own distribution offices in Manila, Viva decided to connect with other companies, such as Miramax and New Line Cinema, and independent producers, which is where Multi-Vision Plus came in.

"At least this way, Filipino moviegoers are assured that they’re not getting run of the mill films, because through our alliance with Multi-Vision Plus, they get access to some really good films," says del Rosario.

He clarifies that the establishment of the alliance with Multi-Vision Plus does not mean that Viva will slow down on producing local films in favor of distributing foreign ones. "As a matter of fact, we’re going full-steam ahead on both fronts," adds del Rosario.

Currently in production are at least three big local films, which include the Robin Padilla-Ai Ai delas Alas starrer.

And it isn’t just in film production that Viva Com, as the company is now known, is moving full steam ahead. "We’re beyond making movies; we’re into various things," prides del Rosario. "We like to think of ourselves as a content company – we provide content for concerts, films, television, things like that."

The alliance between Viva International Pictures and Multi-Vision Plus is clear proof that Viva Com has no intentions of slowing down. As a matter of fact, the company is aggressively expanding, and in May this year, will be having its first IPO, or Initial Public Offering. "Basically, it’s a way of generating funds from outside sources to grow the company, to make it grow faster and make it bigger," explains del Rosario.