MANILA, Philippines - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be making a lightning visit to the Philippines next week on her way to Singapore for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders’ Summit, according to a diplomatic source.

Clinton will be arriving on Thursday and stay for about 24 hours before flying out again to visit other Asian countries and proceed to Singapore for the Apec conference on Nov. 19, said the source who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to talk to the media.

She is scheduled to hold closed-door meetings with President Macapagal-Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, the source said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has neither confirmed nor denied the Clinton visit. DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya said they had heard of such reports in the media but refused to comment further.

No official word

But a diplomat said arrangements were indeed being made for Clinton’s visit but that this would not become official until the US State Department and the DFA make a simultaneous official announcement.

“Until then, nothing is set,” said the source who declined to discuss other details of the Clinton visit, including the date.

Officials are cautious about confirming such visits as a premature announcement would be considered a grievous breach of protocol.

In Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he was not aware of a planned visit by Clinton.

“I don’t know how likely it will be. If true, people would have been talking about it in Malacañang,” he said.

He said Romulo had not mentioned it when they talked Friday, adding he was unable to confirm it with the DFA.

Setting the stage

The talks with Clinton will “set the stage” for Ms Arroyo’s expected meeting with US President Barack Obama at the Apec summit, the first source said.

The discussions with Clinton “will be freewheeling,” and could touch on US concerns about the 2010 elections, the leadership transition next year, US financial assistance and Philippine compliance with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the source said.

“Most likely, Secretary Clinton will reiterate the US position on clean elections and the smooth transition after the 2010 elections,” the source said.

Second RP visit

Clinton last visited the Philippines in 1996 when she accompanied her husband, the then US President Bill Clinton, for the Apec summit held at the Subic Freeport that year.

Bill Clinton and Ms Arroyo were classmates at the Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. from 1964 to 1966.

Hillary Clinton parlayed her eight years as First Lady into a high-flying political career, getting herself elected to the US Senate and coming close to becoming president herself, squaring off with Obama in the fiercely fought battle for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

She and Ms Arroyo figure prominently in every list of the world’s most powerful women.

Succession of top US officials

The Clinton side trip to Manila comes on the heels of recent high-level official visits to the country of US Sen. Bill Nelson in August, Central Intelligence Agency Chief Leon Panetta in July and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in June.

Washington considers the Philippines a vital ally in the global war against terrorism as well as regional security amid the growing expansionism of China and the aggressive nuclear ambitions of North Korea.

The Southeast Asian region is also believed to hold rich deposits of oil and gas and US energy companies have been busy searching and drilling for oil in the region.

Third Asian visit

This will be Clinton’s second visit to Southeast Asia and third to Asia since being appointed Obama’s secretary of state. On her inaugural foreign trip after her appointment, she visited Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China last February.

She visited Thailand last July for the Asean Regional Forum, a multilateral dialogue bringing together the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including the Philippines, and 17 other countries, including the US and the European Union, in a formal consultation to promote confidence-building and preventive diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

At every stop during her Asian visits, Clinton delivered the message that the US was back in a region where America’s presence and role had dimmed during the Bush years.

But it will be Obama who will be taking center stage at the Apec meetings in Singapore where the globalization role of the Asia-Pacific forum amid the global economic crisis and economic protectionism among member-countries will come up for discussion.