House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has accepted the honorary chairmanship of the administration coalition National Unity Party.

“I accept and I’m honored by your invitation,” Belmonte said in response to the proposal of NUP president and Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino.

Belmonte is current vice chairman of the Aquino-led  Liberal Party.

 “Speaker Belmonte is our leader at the House of Representatives and choosing him as our party’s inspirational leader is a recognition of the Speaker’s able leadership in uniting the various political parties to ensure the enactment of laws strengthening the government’s reform program,” Antonino said in a statement.

Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, NUP chairman, said that the unanimous choice of the Speaker by the party members is an expression of NUP’s unequivocal support for the Aquino administration’s legislative agenda.

“While the candidates of the NUP and the ruling Liberal Party running for local posts may be expected to fight it out in the forthcoming mid-term elections, NUP will remain a political ally of President Aquino and a loyal member of the House majority coalition under Speaker Belmonte,” Garcia said. NUP has 34 members in the House.

Source:

http://manilastandardtoday.com/www2/2012/08/02/super-coalition-chooses-belmonte/