The haunting tragedy of the Manila Film Center
In September 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law, a type of dictatorship run by Marcos and his family. Under martial law, the president was to remain in power of the entire state, and any kind of protest, picketing, strike action, or speaking up against the dictatorship was illegal. There was also a curfew set for the entire country, meaning no one could leave their houses between 12am and 4am.
Of course, this kind of regime was horrifying for many Filipinos, causing civil unrest and resulting in the arrest, torture and murder of countless people. Marcos’ reign lasted 14 years, in and out of martial law, until he was ousted in 1986, but naturally, the effects of this horrendous time lasted much longer for the people it involved – not least because some still believe the dictatorship was best for the country and the Marcoses were good people.
You may be wondering how all of this has anything to do with cinema, but of course, everything in reality affects film. The Filipino capital was (and still is) home to the Manila Film Center, which aimed to put Manila alongside film hotspots like Cannes. The centre was built during the martial law period and was part of First Lady Imelda Marcos’ obsession with creating new buildings, dubbed the ‘Edifice Complex’. This obsession was, of course, fed by the money taken from the Filipino people during the dictatorship and worked to present Manila in a positive light – Imelda was the ‘marketer’, if you will.
The entire purpose of the Manila Film Center was to facilitate Imelda’s dream of hosting a brand new international film festival, and construction only started a mere three months before the film festival was supposed to be held. This meant that thousands of labourers had to be brought in, and as you can imagine, conditions were not great – extremely tight deadlines, lack of breaks, ridiculously long working hours, you name it, that was the price.
You may have seen a mile off where this story is going, but as labourers worked away in the dead of night in November 1981, scaffolding gave way, leaving the workers to fall from the sixth floor, entombing them in quick-drying cement, which was still wet. It turns out that in an attempt to get things done, Imelda had ordered quick-drying cement to be used, but the workers didn’t have time to let each layer dry before moving on, so when they fell, the victims sunk into the wet cement, and were left for dead as it dried.
Imelda, being the ‘marketer’ she was, could only think of the negative press attention and public scandal this disaster would attract, so she ordered a media blackout. This meant that emergency service workers couldn’t get into the building to help the victims for nine hours after the incident. As a result, at least 168 workers were officially declared dead, either buried in the cement or impaled by steel bars from the scaffolding, according to Esquire Philippines. Still, the true number is unknown and unverified due to the blackout.
And just when you think it can’t possibly get worse or more inhumane, Imelda was hell-bent on getting the Manila Film Center built in time for the film festival, so instead of clearing away the bodies and fallen cement, she allegedly ordered the visible body parts of deceased workers to be cut off, and cement to be laid over the top, which Mila Llorin, Head of Marketing for Manila Film Festival at the time, has since confirmed.
Obviously, this is a horrendous story and wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film itself. The Film Center is miraculously still standing, and it has a heavy security presence that is very reluctant to allow anyone in. Many say this is the work of the Marcoses trickling down still today since they would want to cover up anything unsavoury.
But for those who have managed to infiltrate this symbol of the horrific Marcos dictatorship, there have been too many haunting experiences to count. Sightings of the ghosts of the dead labourers, odd smells filling the backstage areas, feelings of being blown on, and tingling sensations are just some of the strange happenings that have been reported. A group of 80 Filippino spiritualists have also held séances inside the building and claim that there are at least 30 spirits who are not at peace – is it any wonder?
That very first Manila Film Festival did indeed go ahead in January 1982 with the Marcoses welcoming Hollywood stars including George Hamilton, Peter Ustinov and Priscilla Presley, little did the glamorous guests know they were walking, dancing and shmoozing on over 100 corpses. The film festival didn’t last, with no return after its second year, which was so lacking in funding it was forced to show porn films – presumably not what the First Lady had in mind.
The Manila Film Center has since been taken over by the ‘Amazing Show’, a live entertainment show, and potentially confuses its current existence, but it’s hard to say what should happen to it. There’s also the small matter of the Marcos family being back in control of the country once again since the son of Imelda and Ferdinand, Bongbong, was elected president in 2022. When this prospect became a reality, the country was, of course, split once again, but it will be interesting to see if anything is to be done with the Manila Film Center during his time in power. All we know is this was a tragic story, and the Marcoses ultimately used film as a weapon.
