Manila, Philippines – “Let It Go,” the Oscar award-winning best song from the Disney animated film, “Frozen” shot up to number one in the music charts in the Philippines, and this happened in less than 24 hours.

The song was composed by Robert Lopez, a Filipino American, and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez.  But that was not the reason the song climbed up the music charts.

At a Philippine Senate hearing investigating the 10 Billion-peso pork barrel scam involving detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and implicating three senators, state witness Dennis Cunanan was being grilled by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. 

Santiago repeatedly asked Cunanan, who was the director of the Technology Resource Center (TRC) when the pork barrel scam happened,  what he knew about the involvement of the senators.  TRC, a government corporation, acted as a conduit for the release of pork barrel funds to fake non-governmental organizations or NGOs.  The senators who were allegedly involved in the scam were Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla, Jr.

 “Wow. I’m very interested in what you have to say,” Santiago told Cunanan at one point of the questioning.  When Cunanan hesitated to confirm who he thought was the mastermind of the whole scam, Santiago said, “Let It Go”  in a Karaoke-style musical tone.

Immediately, the social networks exploded with the Santiago quote and radio stations started simultaneously playing the song from “Frozen.”  In just a few hours, “Let It Go,” became the number hit on the Philippine music charts.