It will be an open season for the presidency in the Senate when both houses of Congress open their doors on July 26.

This, as current Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, 86, told reporters that he is leaving to his peers the decision whether they want him to continue being the Senate chief.

However, he said “I will not actively look for it.”

Apart from Enrile, there are others who may seem interested for the job.

They could be the three former Senate presidents – Edgardo J. Angara, Franklin M. Drilon, and Manuel Villar Jr.

Although they do not have the numbers, each of them could forge political alliances with smaller blocs or with individual senators. Drilon, in an interview, said he is interested in the Senate presidency.

“But this will be discussed in the party and it will be an LP (Liberal Party) decision whether to field a candidate or not,’’ said  Drilon, who was Senate President from April to November in 2000 and from July 2001 to July 2006. Apart from this, his  five-member LP is numerically few when votes are cast in that lawmaking body.

Villar could not be reached for comment. After conceding defeat to Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy’’ Aquino III in the May 10 presidential race last week, he was mum on his political plans.

He and his family have reportedly planned a well-deserved rest after the rigorous three-month political campaign.

Angara, head of a Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (Comste), could not be contacted as he was busy hosting a summit in Baler, Aurora attended by a group of  global experts on water conservation.

Without a single party having the numbers to win the Senate presidency, the race remains wide open.

But if alliances are to be considered, Villar may have the upper hand right now to win back the Senate presidency he held from 2006 to 2007 in the 13th Congress and from 2007 to 2009 in the 14th Congress.

Aside from Villar, there are five senators either belonging or allied to his Nacionalista Party (NP). They are Senators Miriam  Defensor Santiago, Pilar Juliana “Pia’’ S. Cayetano, Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Loren Legarda, and Senator-apparent Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Legarda is actually with the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) while Santiago is the founder of her People’s Reform Party (PRP). Marcos, on the other hand, is allied with his father’s Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).

However, all of them ran under the NP banner in the last elections.

Villar could also count on the support of six other senators from different parties: Senators Joker Arroyo of Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (KMP), Edgardo J. Angara of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), and Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Manuel “Lito” Lapid, all of  the Arroyo administration’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD.

Zubiri earlier revealed that he, Angara, Legarda, Revilla, and Lapid had formed themselves into a bloc to strengthen their bargaining leverage during the forthcoming leadership contest.

Despite her defeat in the vice presidential race, Legarda still has three unspent three-year term. A senator has a six-year tenure.

Drilon, on the other hand, could count on the support of Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Ralph Recto, Teofisto Guingona, and Serge  Osmeña.

Labeled as independents and could be the swing votes are Sen. Francis Escudero, who supported the Aquino-Binay tandem;  Gregorio Honasan, and Panfilo Lacson.

Another senator, Antonio Trillanes IV belongs to the Magdalo Party but is known as a Villar supporter.