US observers are arriving here to monitor the May 10 national elections in the Philippines, a US embassy official said Friday.

About 20 observers from non-governmental organizations began arriving on Monday and they would be working with the Philippine government and other agencies, US embassy charge d'affaires Joseph Mussomeli said.

"What we will do is to look at the elections from a technical standpoint and see if there are things that can be done better," Mussomeli said.

He said the US monitors do not expect widespread fraud this time, although in the 1986 election, US observers monitored flawed elections and the ensuing People Power I movement ousted then-president Ferdinand Marcos.

"I think there would be a tremendous difference from the 1986 elections. The entire role of the observers and monitors is different this time around," Mussomeli said.

Earlier, he said the monitors will not come out with an assessment on whether or not the polls were conducted properly though they will show international support for the Philippines' electoral exercise.

The monitoring team preferred to let the National Citizens' Movement for Free Election and other non-governmental organizations to first reach a general consensus on the conduct of the polls, he added.

The United States plans to deploy 120 monitors around the Philippines, a former US colony, to observe the conduct of the May 10 elections for presidential, congressional, and local governmentposts.

Source: Xinhua