MANILA - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday reaffirmed Washington's support for the Philippines' fight against terrorism. 

Clinton, who's in Manila for a two-day visit, also said the United States will continue to support the country's relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas devastated by typhoons Pepeng and tropical storm Ondoy.

Clinton arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 1:15 p.m. Thursday.

She went straight to Malacañang for bilateral talks with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

In a press conference which followed the meeting, Clinton also called for the unconditional release of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and said elections in the reclusive state next year would be credible only if the opposition participated.
  
"We believe that her detention over so many years is baseless and not founded on any concern other than she is the leader of the political opposition," Clinton said.

Anti-terror campaign

The two-day visit comes as US Special Forces advisers are in the southern Philippines to train and equip Filipino soldiers in combatting the Abu Sayyaf group that is blamed for the Southeast Asian nation's worst terrorist attacks.

Clinton is likely to hear "strong support" from President Gloria Arroyo and her defence officials for the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a 1999 treaty which governs the deployment of US troops in the Philippines, Arroyo's aides said.

On the eve of Clinton's visit, police broke up a protest by 70 left-leaning students in Manila who demanded the pullout of the US military advisers, saying they are an affront to the nation's sovereignty.

But a senior State Department official said most Filipinos supported the military ties with the United States.

"I'm not overly concerned by these calls," the official told reporters Wednesday during Clinton's visit to Singapore for talks with Asia Pacific foreign ministers.

"You hear them periodically in the Philippines but I think the broad trend is to support deeper mil-to-mil (military-to-military) engagement between the two countries," the official said.

Ahead of the visit, the Philippines foreign department also issued a statement reiterating its commitment to the military cooperation.

"The Philippine government believes that the Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement is indispensable to the nation's security," it said.

Strong commitment vs extremists

The State Department official said Clinton wanted to show a "strong commitment" to Manila in its fight against extremists, but it would be up to the new US Pacific commander, Admiral Robert Willard, to study strategies.

Philippine authorities say the Abu Sayyaf's numbers have fallen to 300-400 from about 1,000 eight years ago, when the US Special Forces arrived to begin training the Filipino military.

Analysts say US intelligence and weaponry helped Filipino soldiers capture or kill the main leaders of the Abu Sayyaf early in the mission.

But they said younger, more radical rebels had taken their place, as evidenced by persistent violence in the remote southern Philippine islands where the Abu Sayyaf is based and has support from local Muslim communities.

Clashes in the southern islands since the start of the year have left 48 Filipino soldiers and at least 70 Abu Sayyaf militants dead, according to a tally by AFP based on authorities' reports.

Highlighting their ability to defy the military campaign, Abu Sayyaf militants on Monday dumped the severed head of a local school principal they kidnapped in October on Jolo island.

In September, two US soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb on Jolo in the deadliest attack by the Abu Sayyaf on the American contingent.

Still difficult on the ground

"We have seen both dangerous attacks and kidnappings and the situation is still quite difficult on the ground," the US official said.

"There are indications that certain tactics and strategies that have been perfected in Iraq and elsewhere are tried in other theatres and we see some of that playing out in Mindanao and in other parts of the Philippines," he said.

Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have often resorted to roadside bombs to deadly effect against US and allied troops.

Aides said that in her talks with Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Clinton would also discuss how to deal with military-run Myanmar, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations like the Philippines.

Clinton will also visit communities in Manila hit by recent deadly storms to showcase US emergency and development aid to the former American colony, officials said.

The last trip to the Philippines by a US secretary of state was in 2002 when Colin Powell visited. -- reports from ANC, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse