"There is no attempt to roll the clock back,"Powell told reporters before meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Malacanang presidential palace.

"The fact of the matter is the U.S. is not interested in returning to the Philippines with bases or a permanent presence. We're doing everything consistent with the agreements that we have with the Philippine government," said the former general.

However, Powell stressed that the U.S. remains "strongly committed to our development programs to foster a lasting peace in Mindanao (in the southern Philippines)."

Powell, who arrived here Friday night, also said the U.S. strongly supports U.S. investment and efforts by Arroyo to promote economic activity ''that can really make a difference in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country."

Mindanao is a poverty-stricken region in the southern Philippines where extremist Muslim groups have been fighting for years for a separate state.

The U.S. is pouring a total of $100 million in development assistance to the cash-strapped Philippine government this year to fund programs to improve law enforcement, the judiciary and education. "All of this supports Arroyo's war on poverty," Powell said.

"The amount of support that the U.S. is providing to the Philippines both in terms of military support and in terms of development assistance is being significantly increased, and we hope that will remain the case for several years to come," he said.

Powell also said he and Arroyo discussed a new program called the millennium challenge account designed to assist countries to develop the infrastructure they need to attract more trade and investment.

"I'm quite sure that the Philippines will be a prime candidate for support under this account, and that will be a couple of years in the future but it too will be on top of other support we are doing," he said.

Touching on the fight against international terrorism, Powell said the U.S. is pleased that the Philippines "has been in the forefront of leadership in Southeast Asia with respect to the global war against terrorism."

The U.S. wrapped up last month a six-month joint counterterrorism exercise with Philippine troops in the southern Philippines where the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group is active.

In June, the Philippines asked the U.S. to extend the military training exercise beyond the July 31 deadline, according to confidential documents obtained by Kyodo News.

In the document, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Albert del Rosario said Stephen Hadley, deputy assistant to U.S. President George W. Bush, gave assurances that the U.S. "would like Philippines-U.S. defense security cooperation to be more than a one-shot occurrence."

On the issue of the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), Powell also rejected speculation the military-to-military pact will act like a Trojan horse to pave the way for establishing a permanent U.S. base in the Philippines.

"MLSA is an administrative arrangement between the two countries. A servicing agreement is usually negotiated and dealt with at a fairly middle level, management level, within our (defense departments)," he said.

"I hope that once our defense officials working with (their Philippine counterparts) have a chance to explain what's in it and how it benefits both sides the Filipino people will understand that there's nothing mysterious about it," he said.

He stressed the MLSA "is not an effort to insert ourselves in any way into the Philippines that would be troubling to anyone..it doesn't deal with that at all. It is strictly a set of arrangements between the two sides for logistical support and accountability."

The Philippines is the last leg of Powell's Asian swing that already took him to India, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Powell's visit to Manila was marred by noisy protests by groups opposed to the U.S. military presence in the country.