WASHINGTON - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo was set on Thursday (Friday in Manila) to be the first Southeast Asian leader at Barack Obama's White House, with cooperation on fighting Islamic extremists on the agenda.

Arroyo was due to hold talks on July 30 with Obama. She will also meet with members of the US Congress and business groups.

The White House in announcing the visit said that Arroyo and Obama would "further the traditionally strong alliance and bond between our nations."

It said the two countries would discuss cooperation on fighting extremists as well as climate change, a key priority for the Obama administration as the deadline approaches for a new global treaty.

Before her departure, Arroyo told the Philippine Congress that security issues would be high on her agenda.

She said her talks with Obama would discuss "terrorism -- how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in historical injustice or religious prejudice."

Washington has been providing assistance and training to help the Philippine military crush Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants blamed for the country's worst terrorist attacks.

Since 2003, small numbers of US forces have been rotating in the southern Philippines, providing intelligence that has led to the capture or killing of top militants.

Arroyo's visit comes at a time when Southeast Asian neighbors -- particularly the Philippines and Indonesia -- are increasing their intelligence cooperation after a spate of deadly bombing.

A July 17 bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, killing seven, has been blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamist group believed by intelligence agencies to be Al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian arm.

The Philippines is a former US colony and along with Thailand is the most long-standing US partner in Southeast Asia.

The Obama administration has also been stepping up relations with Indonesia, where the president lived as a childhood and which is often hailed in Washington as a model for a moderate Muslim-majority democracy.

Democracy issues

Meanwhile, a Philippine leader has advised Obama to press Mrs. Arroyo on human rights and democracy.

In an interview on Umagang Kay Ganda on Thursday, Drilon said he expects Obama to make it clear with Mrs. Arroyo that America would not support an administration that undermines democracy.

"Hindi susuportahan ang anumang pamamaraan na mawala ang demokrasya sa ating bansa pati ang pagpapahaba ng termino sa pamamagitan ng pagbabago ng Saligang Batas (That he will not support any actions that would kill democracy in the country and the extension of term through amendments to the Constitution)," the former senator said when asked what he hopes Obama would tell Mrs. Arroyo during their meeting at the White House.

He said the country really needs an Obama to stop Mrs. Arroyo and her administration's alleged human rights violations and selective implementation of the campaign against corruption.

Malacañang had said that the open letter signed by Drilon and other opposition and civic leaders is full of "political uncivility."

The former senator said he finds it hard to believe that people like former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona and former Senate President Jovito Salonga are politically uncivil.

He said the open letter is "the reflection of the sentiment of the people," which should be brought to the attention of the US president, who has vowed to fight corruption and injustice.

"In your meeting with Ms. Arroyo, it may serve you well to be mindful of Ms. Arroyo's legacy of corruption, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances torture, bribery, election cheating, among others," Drilon's group said in an open letter to Obama published in a major daily broadsheet newspaper on Wednesday.

They added: "We implore you Mr. President to inspire hope and be an instrument of change for the common good of the long suffering Filipino people."

The group also included in the letter Obama's famous line when he was elected US president: "Those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent... are on the wrong side of the history." -- with a report from Agence France-Presse