In the sprawling, chaotic, and increasingly venomous war surrounding the Eat Bulaga legacy, the battle lines have long been drawn. For months, it was a corporate war, a high-stakes legal fight between the iconic trio of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon (TVJ) and their former producers, TAPE Inc. Then, it became a personal war, a bitter “civil war” between former friends, with hosts like Anjo Yllana launching deeply personal attacks against Senator Tito Sotto.

The public has been forced to watch as a 40-year brotherhood disintegrated into a mudslinging feud. Yllana’s primary weapon has been the “dark secrets” of Tito Sotto’s past, specifically an alleged “past indiscretion.” This threat was seemingly neutralized weeks ago when Sotto’s own daughter, Ciara, bravely admitted that her father had indeed made a “mistake” long ago, one that “hurt” the family but had been privately dealt with and, crucially, forgiven.

The “secret” was out. The Sotto family had owned the narrative. It seemed, for a moment, that the personal attacks had lost their power.

That was, until this week.

A new, infinitely more explosive allegation has just been dropped into the battlefield. The vague, nameless “mistake” of the past has suddenly been given a face, a name, and a specific identity. And it is a face that is hauntingly familiar to every Eat Bulaga fan.

A shocking new report, amplified by viral videos and social media buzz, is now alleging that the “lihim na relasyon” (secret relationship) from Tito Sotto’s past was with none other than former Eat Bulaga host, Julia Clarete.

This is the bombshell that has changed the game. This is not just an allegation; it is an identification. It is a direct, personal, and devastating accusation that has dragged a new, beloved personality into the fray. And according to the same reports, this revelation has caused the Sotto family’s dignified matriarch, Helen Gamboa, to finally break her silence in a “furious” rage, to “kinaladkad” (drag) Julia Clarete into the public square to answer for this long-buried secret.

The very idea of Helen Gamboa, the “Queen” of the Sotto clan—a woman known for her almost supernatural grace, dignity, and quiet faith—”dragging” anyone is, in itself, the most shocking part of the story. It implies a level of betrayal and anger that has finally pushed the untouchable matriarch past her breaking point.

To understand the weight of this, one must understand who Julia Clarete was to the Eat Bulaga family. She was not just a host; she was, for over a decade, the “ad-lib queen,” the quirky, talented, and universally loved “sister” of the Dabarkads. She was part of the family. Her chemistry with her co-hosts, including the Sotto brothers, was seen as genuine, playful, and purely professional.

She left the show in 2016 to move to Malaysia, a departure that was explained as a choice to focus on her personal life and new family. She has, by all accounts, been living a quiet, private life abroad, far from the spotlight and the toxicity of showbiz.

This is what makes the new allegation so brutal. It doesn’t just accuse her of a hidden relationship; it accuses her of the deepest betrayal. It paints her as the “snake in the garden,” a woman who was part of the “happy family” on-screen while allegedly being a “third party” behind the scenes. It retroactively taints every laugh, every shared moment, every “family” photo from her decade-Llong run on the show.

And the timing, of course, is nothing short of malicious.

This is not a random piece of gossip. It is a calculated strike. It comes at the very moment the TVJ vs. TAPE Inc. war is at its most critical juncture. The Sotto family’s brand, which is the very foundation of TVJ’s legal and moral claim to Eat Bulaga, is built on family values. This allegation is a surgical, devastating strike designed to shatter that foundation.

It is an attempt to reframe Tito Sotto, the patriarch, not as a respected leader, but as a hypocrite. It is designed to expose the “happy family” as a complete and total sham.

The public, for the most part, had accepted Ciara Sotto’s “past mistake” narrative. It was vague enough to be forgiven, a human error from a time long past. But by putting a name and a face to that mistake—and the face of a co-host, no less—the narrative is twisted into something far more sinister. It becomes a story of a boss and his subordinate, a story of a betrayal that happened inside the workplace, inside the “family.”

This is the “dark secret” that Anjo Yllana and other critics have been alluding to. And this report claims it is now “nabunyag na” (exposed).

The report that Helen Gamboa is the one “dragging” Julia is the second part of this attack. It is designed to shatter her image as the dignified, “stand-by-your-man” wife. It paints her as a woman scorned, a woman who has finally had enough. It creates a new, explosive narrative: the catfight. It pits two powerful women against each other, the “wife” versus the “other woman,” a narrative that is as old as time and infinitely more compelling to the public than a trademark dispute.

But is it true?

At this moment, there is no proof. There is only the allegation, a “tsismis” (gossip) that has been weaponized. Both Julia Clarete and the Sotto family have remained completely silent in the face of this new, nuclear-level allegation.

Julia Clarete, a private citizen in a foreign country, has been thrust back into the Philippine spotlight in the most brutal way imaginable. She is being forced to defend her decade of work, her personal honor, and her private life from an accusation that seems designed to destroy her.

Helen Gamboa, a woman who has endured 50-plus years of public life with her head held high, is once again being forced to endure the public humiliation of her husband’s alleged past. The report claims she is “furious,” and it is impossible to imagine she is not. But her anger is likely not just at the alleged betrayal itself, which Ciara’s statement implied was old news. Her fury is likely aimed at the people who have dragged this private, healed wound back into the public square, forcing her and her children to relive the trauma for the sake of a corporate war.

This is the true, ugly face of this conflict. It has devolved from a fight for a legacy into a campaign of mutually assured destruction. The goal is no longer to win; it is to make the other side lose… to lose their dignity, their reputation, and their family’s peace.

The “secret relationship,” whether real or fabricated, has just become the most powerful weapon in the Eat Bulaga war. And in this battle, there are no winners. There are only casualties. And the first casualties are the women—Helen and Julia—who have been “dragged” into a fight they never asked for.