Manila Film Center ghosts

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Manila Film Center ghosts

From Pasay, Tagalog

The Manila Film Center in Pasay was built in 1981 in a great hurry. People say workers died when scaffolding fell and that their ghosts remain. The architect said seven workers died, and that all were retrieved.

Folklore is retold; versions differ.

Sources: Wikipedia: Manila Film Center (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)

The story

The Manila Film Center stands at the CCP Complex in Pasay. Architect Froilan Hong designed it for the first Manila International Film Festival, held in January 1982. Imelda Marcos led the project, which began in January 1981. The building was finished in a great hurry, at a reported cost of about 25 million US dollars.

On 17 November 1981, scaffolding collapsed during construction. Workers fell into wet cement. The number of dead is disputed. Hong said that seven workers died. Wikipedia cites accounts that give at least 169. Some writers say rescue began only about nine hours later. This was a real accident, and it should be remembered with respect for the people who lost their lives.

Ghost stories came after. People say that the building is haunted, and that the workers' spirits remain. A 2006 episode of the GMA show i-Witness and a 1991 ABS-CBN Halloween special told such stories. The building was left empty after the 1990 earthquake. It was later leased for a stage show from 2001 to 2009 and was damaged by a fire in 2013. The ghost tales are stories and cannot be proven.