Company of Wolves

In a dramatic turn of events, Congress voted to oust de Venecia as House Speaker and replaced him with a Gloria, or rather a Mike Arroyo, ally, Congressman Nograles from Davao. Reportedly, the two sons of Gloria, Mikey and Dato, both Congressmen from Pampanga and Bicol, respectively, initiated the move in what amounts to a naked display of Gloria's power over Congress.

Dato, in his speech said that Congress isn't de Venecia's kingdom. Duh, nor is the entire country your family's, you twit. In fact, your only credential is that you happen to be a son of a sitting President. You have never even lived in the district you supposedly represents. The nerve.

The fall-out from the ZTE scandal has cost de Venecia the Speakership, as Gloria wasn't too happy about his failure in reining in his son, the whistle-blower, from divulging too much details about the anomaly which involves her directly, as well as close Mike Arroyo pals like Enrique Razon who keeps on getting juicy Chinese deals for himself.

Clearly, majority of the Congressmen did not seem to be bothered by the President's involvement in the scam. Obviously, she's no different from them-- in the company of wolves.

As expected, de Venecia lashed at Gloria and has started revealing information about anomalies in the last Presidential elections. Problem is, everybody knows that already, and it really appears that the former Speaker is sour-graping.

Removing de Venecia from the Speakership alters the political landscape: he's now with the opposition. And given his astute political skills, Gloria better watch out, because de Venecia's not gonna sit back and take this in stride.

As sure as the day is long, de Venecia will likely forge an alliance with Erap and the rest of the opposition. This is not the end of it, that is for sure.