Zamora wants House minority leadership, but…

San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora

MANILA, Philippines—San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora is expected to join the contest for the speakership of the House of Representatives in the 16th Congress, but he is not expected to dislodge incumbent Speaker Feliciano Belmonte from the post, according to Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II.

Zamora, who is returning for a fresh term in the House, will be battling it out for the top post with Belmonte and Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats’ (Lakas-CMD) President Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

President Aquino had endorsed Belmonte as his choice for the next House Speaker during a meeting with Liberal Party members in Malacañang.

Whoever would be the second placer in the speakership contest will become the minority leader in the next Congress.

But the current Minority Leader, Lakas-CMD’s Danilo Suarez, on Wednesday said he was confident that Romualdez would be the runner-up in the race and would be the next minority leader. Suarez met with Zamora earlier and the latter indicated his plan to run for the top House post.

Suarez said Lakas-CMD had been talking with colleagues and getting support for Romualdez so that the latter would get enough votes to at least be the runner-up in the race for House Speaker.

“As of now, with the number of meetings we have concluded—I think we have conducted two to three meetings already with some possible members who will support Congressman Romualdez—we are confident we have the numbers already, a decent number,” he said in a press briefing.

“I think Martin is a shoo-in in the minority issue,” he added.