WASHINGTON?Burma (Myanmar) is likely to hold elections around September but they are shaping up to be a ?farce? with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi unable to run, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said here Friday.

On a visit to Washington, Romulo said he expected the fellow Southeast Asian nation?s military regime to release Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest.

?I believe the election will go through in September?around that time?and I believe that perhaps from what we hear that Aung San Suu Kyi would be released before the election,? Romulo said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

But he said the military junta that rules Burma would likely prohibit Suu Kyi from running, as well as some members of her National League of Democracy, which won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take office.

?If this is so, then it?s a mockery of Burma?s own roadmap to democracy,? said Romulo, using the country?s name before the junta changed it to Myanmar.

?Such an election would be a farce,? he said.

The Philippines has been outspoken in demanding the release of Suu Kyi, with Romulo calling the Philippines a ?strong and sometimes solitary voice? on Burma in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The junta has pledged to hold elections in 2010 but has not set a date.

The opposition and ethnic minorities have been deeply suspicious about the election, fearing the junta would use it to legitimize its rule.

US President Barack Obama?s administration has called for a free election as part of its policy of engagement with Burma.

Romulo said the Philippines supported the new US approach to Burma, long a pariah to Western nations.

?We think this is a step in the right direction,? he said. ?It?s time to adopt a new tactic.? AFP