MANILA - US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Leon Panetta met President Arroyo on Sunday for a closed-door security meeting, officials said.

Panetta was escorted by Philippines' National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo as they arrived at the Malacañang presidential palace, officials said.

He was accompanied by US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, CIA Deputy Director and CIA National Clandestine Service director Michael Sulick, and Deputy Chief of Mission Leslie Basset.

There were no immediate details on what transpired, but Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier said the visit was to re-affirm Washington's commitment to its Southeast Asian anti-terror partner.

'Close to our hearts'

In a press statement posted at the Malacañang's web site, Panetta reportedly said the Philippines is 'close' to Americans' hearts.

Panetta, who represented California's 16th (now 17th) Congressional District in Monterey Bay from 1977 to 1993, cited the Filipino community, reportedly saying that their being hard working and loyal were the traits that endeared them to him.

"The Philippines is very close to our hearts because of the hardworking Filipinos in the district I once represented," Panetta was reported to have said.

Panetta arrived in Manila Sunday, and prior to the meeting with Mrs Arroyo, met with US embassy personnel and took a side trip to the American Cemetery in Manila where he lay a wreath in honor of US and Filipino World War II servicemen.

Visit comes after bombings, Vagni release

Panetta's visit came just hours after Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants freed an Italian Red Cross worker they had held for six months in the southern Philippines.

It also came just days after a series of bomb attacks in the south blamed on another group of Muslim separatist rebels left at least eight dead and over a hundred wounded.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in a statement said Arroyo has meanwhile accepted an invitation to visit the White House on July 30, becoming the first Southeast Asian leader to have an audience with President Barack Obama.

Arroyo's visit "is an affirmation of the strong partnership between the two countries that share historical and cultural ties and common democratic values," the department said in a statement.

Apart from joint counter-terrorism efforts, Arroyo is expected to discuss with Obama her government's poverty alleviation and economic programmes, it said.

A senior department official, who asked not to be named, said the two leaders would discuss bilateral defense, security, economic and political issues.

Diplomatic ties were strained after a US Marine who had participated in joint maneuvers in the Philippines was convicted of raping a Filipino woman in 2006.

An appeals court overturned the decision early this year after the victim recanted her statement.

US troops have been rotating in the southern Philippines since 2003 for joint anti-terror training with their Filipino counterparts. With reports from the Agence France-Presse