MANILA, Philippines – The forthcoming visit to the Philippines of US Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Edward Panetta was scheduled a month ago and has nothing to do with the recent bombings in Mindanao.

This was stressed by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday to correct reports linking the one-day visit next Sunday to the bombings in Mindanao and efforts by pro-administration sectors to amend the Constitution.

“This has been in the works for the last four weeks. The visit is unrelated to certain developments in Mindanao,” DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview.

Malaya said a request for a courtesy call was made by Panetta and was coursed through the US embassy in Manila a month ago.

On the agenda will be issues of both countries’ common campaign against transnational crimes and international terrorism, he said.

Panetta will arrive here Sunday morning from Singapore and will depart in the evening of the same day.

Both the DFA and the US embassy in Manila did not release specific details of the visit. However, a source in the diplomatic community said only two activities are scheduled.

The first is a courtesy call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by Panetta in the early afternoon. He will be accompanied by US Ambassador Kristie Kenney.

With the President will be Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.

Panetta will also meet with his local counterpart, Alfredo Cabuay, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

The CIA is responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior US policymakers.

NICA is the primary intelligence collection and analysis arm of the Philippine government in charge in carrying out overt and covert intelligence programs.

NICA is in close coordination with the CIA, Israel’s Mossad and the intelligence services of ASEAN countries to counter the threat of terrorism.