The war for the Eat Bulaga legacy has been, for the better part of a year, a confusing and brutal spectacle. It has been a multi-front conflict, a complex legal battle for a trademark, and a painful divorce between the show’s iconic founders and the corporation that housed them. But as the legal war wages on, a secondary, far uglier battle has been festering in the trenches of social media. This is the personal war, a bitter “civil war” between former brothers-in-arms.

At the center of this personal conflict is Anjo Yllana, a former “Dabarkads” host, and his one-time mentor and colleague, Senator Tito Sotto. Yllana, who did not join the “exodus” of TVJ to their new home, has become their most vocal and vicious critic. His weapon of choice has been a mysterious, oft-threatened “Box Reveal,” a promise to expose the “dark secrets” of Tito Sotto’s past.

For weeks, this “secret” has been understood to be an allegation of a decades-old indiscretion, a “third-party” rumor from a time long forgotten. It was a threat designed to puncture Sotto’s “family man” image.

The Sotto family, in a brilliant and unified counter-move, defanged this threat. Tito’s daughter, Ciara Sotto, bravely stepped forward, not with a denial, but with a pained admission. She confirmed her father had made a “mistake” long ago, one that “hurt” their family, but one that had been confronted, processed, and, most importantly, forgiven. Even the famously apolitical Mayor Vico Sotto, Vic Sotto’s son, expressed his “galit” (anger), not at his uncle’s past, but at Anjo’s present-day maliciousness in digging up a healed wound.

The “Box Reveal” was, for all intents and purposes, neutralized. The “secret” was out, and the public’s sympathy was squarely with the Sotto family, who had been forced to relive their private pain.

But Anjo Yllana, it seems, was not finished.

In a “shocking” new development that has left the public stunned and disgusted, Yllana has reportedly escalated his war. Finding his original weapon ineffective, he has now aimed his fire at a new, and completely innocent, target. The latest “Box Reveal” reports are no longer just about Tito Sotto. In a move that has been universally condemned as “desperate” and “below-the-belt,” Anjo Yllana is now “dinamay”—dragging—one of Vic Sotto’s children into the feud.

This is the “shocking” twist that has changed everything. It has transformed Anjo Yllana from a “bitter former colleague” into a man who has, in the eyes of the public, lost all moral high ground. The unwritten, sacred rule of Philippine feuds—Pati pamilya, huwag idamay, lalo na ang mga bata (Do not drag the family, especially the children)—has been shattered.

This new tactic is a “scorched earth” campaign. It is a clear signal that this is no longer about any “truth” or “justice.” This is about inflicting maximum emotional pain on the entire Sotto clan. The logic is as cruel as it is transparent: “If I cannot hurt Tito Sotto, I will hurt his brother. If I cannot make him bleed, I will attack his family, even the children.”

The “shock” is not in the “reveal” itself. The specific details of how Vic Sotto’s child was “dragged” in are almost secondary to the act itself. The mere mention of an innocent family member, the use of a child’s name as a “weapon” in a war between bitter old men, is the ultimate taboo.

This move is particularly baffling and cruel given Vic Sotto’s role in this entire saga. “Bossing” Vic has, by and large, remained the quiet, peacemaking center of TVJ. While Tito Sotto has been the political voice and Joey de Leon the sharp-witted critic, Vic has been the beloved, unifying “father” of the group. He has not engaged in the mudslinging. He is, by all accounts, the least confrontational of the trio.

By attacking Vic’s child, Anjo is not just attacking a Sotto; he is attacking the man who is arguably the most loved and least deserving of this personal venom. It is a desperate attempt to drag “Bossing” into the mud, to force a reaction from a man who has refused to give him one.

The public backlash has been swift and brutal. Anjo Yllana’s social media pages, once a platform for his grievances, have reportedly been flooded with a new wave of anger. This time, it is not just from TVJ loyalists. It is from neutral observers, from parents, from decent-minded people who are appalled that a feud has been allowed to devolve to this level.

The “Box Reveal,” once a tantalizing mystery, is now seen as what it is: a toxic, empty box filled with nothing but one man’s bitterness.

This new development forces us to look at the real, human collateral damage of this corporate war. The victims are no longer just the hosts or the staff who had to choose a side. The victims are now the family members who had no say in the matter.

Imagine being Helen Gamboa, Tito Sotto’s wife, a woman who has endured decades of public life with unparalleled grace. After having to relive her husband’s “past mistake” (which she had forgiven), she now has to watch her brother-in-law’s family come under the same malicious fire.

Imagine being Vic Sotto’s wife, Pauleen Luna, who has fiercely protected her children from the public eye. She must now, in horror, watch as her child’s name is used as a pawn in a game they never asked to play.

And what of the Sotto children—Ciara, Vico, Danica, Oyo, Paulina, Tali? They are all being forced to watch their “Tito Anjo,” a man who was a fixture at their family gatherings, a man who they likely grew up with, publicly try to tear their family apart.

Anjo Yllana’s escalation has, in one fell swoop, accomplished the one thing he probably never intended: he has unified the entire Sotto clan, and the public, against him. He has exposed his “reveal” as nothing more than a desperate, vindictive, and cruel campaign. He has not “exposed” Tito Sotto; he has exposed himself.

The Eat Bulaga war, a story that began with a fight over a 40-year-old legacy, has now devolved into a heartbreaking tragedy. It’s a story of a brotherhood so shattered that one of its own is now willing to break the most sacred of bonds—the safety of a family—just to score a point.

The “shocking” truth of the “Box Reveal” is not a “secret partner.” The shocking truth is that Anjo Yllana has crossed a line from which there is no coming back.