UPDATE 1-Manila hopeful of hitting budget gap goal; asset sales

* Manila hoping to sell three state assets within the year

* Says looking at a yen bond issue in early 2010

SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The Philippines is hopeful of selling some state assets before the year ends to allow it to keep within a budget deficit target that is already a record high, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Friday.

Manila, one of Asia's largest sovereign debt issuers, was also considering a Samurai bond sale early next year as part of a $2 billion foreign debt plan to fund its 2010 fiscal deficit.

"We remain hopeful in achieving the 250 billion pesos ($5.3 billion) deficit target this year," Teves said in the Dealing Room, a Reuters Messaging chatroom.

"We're talking with a few parties regarding the sale of FTI (Food Terminals Inc) but we cannot disclose yet their identities. We are also hopeful that we can dispose other big ticket items like the PNOC-EC and our shares in San Miguel Corp," he said.

The government wants to sell a 40 percent stake in oil-and-gas explorer PNOC Exploration Corp (PEC.PS) (PECB.PS), which it estimates to be worth 11 billion pesos.

It also wants to sell preferred shares in San Miguel (SMC.PS) (SMCB.PS), the country's second most valuable firm, and the 103-hectare FTI commercial estate in Manila that it had valued at around $279 million.

"We are hopeful that we could sell all three within the year," Teves said.