In the high-stakes, smoke-filled, and often brutal theater of Philippine politics, there are few forces more disruptive than an “insider” who decides to go rogue. For months, the public has watched the carefully choreographed performance of unity from the current administration, a “UniTeam” that, on the surface, moves in lockstep, a dominant, consolidated force.

That performance, and the facade of unity, has just been shattered.

A “shocking” new report has detonated in the nation’s capital, and its message is as simple as it is devastating: Teddy Locsin Jr. “kumanta na.” He has started to sing.

This is not a minor, off-key tune. This is a full-blown “pasabog” (bombshell), an operatic exposé from one of the most powerful, brilliant, and famously sharp-tongued figures within the government itself. Teodoro “Teddy” Locsin Jr.—the former Foreign Affairs Secretary, the former UN Ambassador, and the current Special Envoy to China—has broken ranks.

The “shocking good news,” as critics and opposition figures are immediately calling it, is that this “song” is not aimed at a political rival. It is a direct, calculated “answer” aimed at the very heart of the administration’s power structure: Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, and by extension, “lahat sa Palasyo at Kamara” (everyone in the Palace and Congress).

This is not a disagreement. This is not a “policy debate.” This is an internal, political “reckoning,” and it is happening live, for all the world to see. The “UniTeam” is not, it seems, united at all.

To understand the magnitude of this, one must first understand the man. Teddy Locsin Jr. is not a typical politician or bureaucrat. He is a “wild card,” an aristocrat, a former journalist, and a diplomat whose decades-long career has been defined by his refusal to “suffer fools.” His social media presence is legendary, an acid bath of brutal honesty and high-intellect snark, often aimed at his own allies as much as his enemies.

He is the ultimate “insider,” a man who knows where every “body” is buried because he has likely read the receipts, written the memos, and attended the meetings. For this man to “sing” is not just a “scandal”; it is a systemic failure. It is a signal that the internal fractures have become so deep, the policy disagreements so profound, that even a man of his stature and loyalty can no longer contain them.

The report’s central claim is that Locsin has “sinagot” (answered) Justice Secretary Remulla. This is a clash of titans, a confrontation between two of the administration’s most powerful, and stylistically opposite, figures. Remulla, a formidable political operator from a powerful Cavite dynasty, is the very embodiment of the administration’s “iron fist.” He is the “enforcer,” the “law and order” pillar, the man who runs the Department of Justice, a key gatekeeper of the nation’s legal and political machinery.

Locsin, on the other hand, is the “intellectual,” the “diplomat,” the “face” of the administration on the world stage.

For Locsin to “answer” Remulla is a public “checkmate.” It implies Remulla has made a massive “blunder,” a political or legal move so egregious that Locsin, from his perch in foreign relations, feels the need to “correct” it publicly. This is not how a “unified” cabinet operates. This is a “civil war” between the “brain” and the “fist.”

While the exact “song” that Locsin sang is still being deciphered from the political fallout, the implications are clear. Given Locsin’s current role as Special Envoy to China, his “answer” is almost certainly about the one topic that divides the nation: foreign policy, national sovereignty, and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Has Remulla’s DOJ, in its zealousness, taken an action that complicates the Philippines’ delicate, high-stakes dance with China? Has Locsin, the “diplomat,” seen his hard-won, quiet negotiations “sabotaged” by the “hard-line” (or, perhaps, “soft”) posturing of the Justice department?

Or, in the most explosive “what if,” is this about the ICC? Remulla has been the “stonewall,” the man who has, time and again, vehemently opposed any cooperation with the ICC’s investigation into the previous administration. Has Locsin, the “internationalist,” “sung” a different tune? Has he “answered” Remulla’s “stonewalling” with a “truth bomb” about the “reality” of international law?

If Locsin has “sung” about the ICC, it would be a “bombshell” that paralyzes the entire government. It would be “shocking good news” for human rights advocates, but a “nightmare” for the fragile “UniTeam” alliance.

But the report claims the “answer” was not just for Remulla. It was for “lahat sa Palasyo at Kamara” (everyone in the Palace and Congress). This is the “scorched-earth” element of Locsin’s “song.”

He is not just “correcting” a colleague; he is “indicting” the entire system. He is, in effect, accusing the executive and legislative branches of a “failure”—a failure of policy, a failure of intellect, or a failure of integrity. This is not a “scalpel”; it is a “bomb” thrown into the “war room.”

This is what makes it “shocking good news” for the opposition. When your enemies are fighting each other, the battle is half-won. The “UniTeam,” the most dominant political force in a generation, is now, allegedly, eating itself alive.

The “chaos” in the “Palasyo” (Palace) and “Kamara” (Congress) is palpable. How do you respond to Teddy Locsin Jr.?

To ignore him is impossible. His “song” is now “viral.” He is too high-profile, his voice too loud.

To “fire” him is equally, if not more, impossible. Firing your Special Envoy to China, a man of Locsin’s international stature, in the middle of a delicate geopolitical crisis, would be a sign of catastrophic instability. It would be an admission of guilt.

To “censure” him is laughable. Locsin, a man who has traded barbs with world leaders on Twitter (X), does not “censure.”

This leaves the administration, from Remulla to the highest offices in the Palace, in a state of political “paralysis.” They are “tamba” (knocked out), as a previous, related report might say. They have been hit by their own “insider,” and any move they make will only make the situation worse.

The “UniTeam’s” entire brand was built on “unity.” This “unity” was its “shield.” Locsin, with his “song,” has just taken that shield, and in the words of a Marvel movie, “used it as a frisbee.” He has exposed the “unity” as a “fraud.”

This is a story that is just beginning. The “song” has been sung. The “truth,” or at least Locsin’s version of it, is out. And now, the public, the opposition, and the entire world are watching as the “insiders” are forced to deal with the music.

For critics of the administration, it is, indeed, “shocking good news.” It is the sound of the “unsinkable” ship finally, and publicly, admitting it is taking on water. And the man who is pointing to the hole is the one who, until now, was one of its chief engineers.