MANILA, Philippines?While a three-way fight is reportedly emerging for the Senate presidency, there may be no jolts, no surprises when the House of Representatives chooses the next Speaker.

An ally of Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Monday said some 150 lawmakers had committed their support to the former city mayor?s bid to head the 287-member chamber.

The number is already more than the 144 votes needed to give Belmonte, who ran under President Benigno Aquino III?s Liberal Party (LP), the position he last held for six months in 2001, according to Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III.

A Belmonte victory would underscore the resurgence of the LP, the country?s oldest active political party, and warm the House for Mr. Aquino?s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the opening of the 15th Congress on July 26.

The votes for Belmonte would come from various political parties whose members have committed to coalesce with the LP, Tañada said.

Tañada said members of the Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People?s Coalition, PDP-Laban and even the once-dominant Lakas-Kampi have given their word that they would support Belmonte. Party-list representatives would also vote for the LP stalwart.

Of the 150 Belmonte supporters, half were members of the LP, the Quezon lawmaker added.

LP?s swelling ranks

?We have reached the 144 majority needed in order for him to be Speaker,? Tañada told reporters. ?The running total (is) at the 150 level.?

The LP?s ranks swelled after lawmakers, including those from Lakas, jumped ship following Aquino?s victory in the May polls.

But Tañada said new party members had to be ?screened.? A batch who took their oath three weeks ago, for example, would undergo a ?seminar on LP and its policies? within the week, he added.

Belmonte, 73, served as Speaker in the 11th Congress from January to June 2001. He was earlier elected congressman of Quezon City for three consecutive terms. He won as mayor of the city in 2001 and was reelected in 2004 and 2007.

In his return bid for the speakership, Belmonte is expected to be challenged by Rep. Edcel Lagman of Lakas-Kampi, which decided to field the Albay lawmaker after former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo opted not to vie for the House leadership.

The LP is also expected to control the House panels vital to the success of President Aquino?s legislative agenda. These include the committees on rules, appropriation, ways and means, justice and constitutional amendments, as well as the powerful Commission on Appointments.

Deadlock

At the Senate, Sen. Edgardo Angara said the fight for the Senate presidency may not only be between Senators Manuel Villar Jr. and Francis Pangilinan?but may also include Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

Enrile could become a contender in the ?remote? possibility that a deadlock occurs or ?if each side sticks to their own and no one crosses over,? Angara said.

If that happens, Angara said, ?Enrile is acceptable to me personally as a compromise candidate.?

Angara projected a three-way contest even as the Senate Legislative Parliamentary Counseling Service released a study saying Enrile should preside over the July 26 session as Senate president until replaced by a colleague elected by a majority composed of at least 13 senators.

The group said this was based on previous Senate rules and practice.

?(And) if no successor is elected, it will still be Enrile who will be Senate president,? according to Senate Secretary Emma Reyes.

Reyes said she called for the study to clarify who should open and preside over the opening session, after Enrile told reporters that he would give that task to her.

Swing-vote bloc

Angara also said there were now seven senators (from a previous bloc of five) who he claimed would vote as a group.

They included himself, Senators Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ramon Revilla Jr., Lito Lapid, Vicente Sotto III and Gregorio Honasan, he said.

Pangilinan said he would expect seven of his peers to support him. These were his three LP mates Senators Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto and TG Guingona; Senators Francis Escudero and Serge Osmeña who were both also allied with President Aquino; Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Enrile.

Pangilinan cited an earlier statement made by Enrile that he and Estrada were likely to back him rather than go for Villar.

Villar would be banking on Senators Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.