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Film Center collapsed during
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construction killing 30 bman saying
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there was no time to dig out the dead Ed
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the work to continue
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or and the reason the building was
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rushed so that it could a a vicious
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dictator with egom monarchal issues and
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a people who had to suffer the conse
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quences seems like the beginning of
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horror story but is in fact the
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historical truth when it comes to the
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Manila Film Center in the Philippines an
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impressive building designed to look
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like the Greek paron the Manila Film
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Center was to be K's main rival in
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1982 unfortunately it never got there
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and instead turned into a tomb for 169
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people in 1981 first lady Amel De Marcos
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wanted her ambition realized and at that
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time whatever she wanted she got like
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when she wanted a spectacular theater to
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host the Miss Universe Pageant
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1974 the folk Hearts theater designed by
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a national artist for architecture
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Leandro loon was completed in a record
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77 days from melder the Philippines was
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in a strategic position to be an intern
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National Marketplace for films it made
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sense to have a Manila International
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Film Festival it is both East West right
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and left rich and poor we are neither
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here all that she said in a press
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conference before the festival Manila
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International Film festivals piece the
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resistance was going to be the film
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Center there was a plan for the building
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but it was eventually redesigned to
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house ear an auditorium a film lab and
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film archives for the latter's design
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the team requested the assistance of
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experts from UNESCO who gladly lent
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their help in
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1981 with 3 months to go before the
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scheduled January event and a budget of
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$25 million supposedly allocated for a
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new wing of the PGH it was predictably a
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disaster waiting to happen nevertheless
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around 4,000 laborers were hired and
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they rotated among shifts across 24
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hours with a more sensible time frame to
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the lobby would need 6 weeks for the
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center 1,000 workers finished it in 72
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hours on November 17th
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1981 at around 3:00 a.m. scaffolding on
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the fourth floor collapsed to workers
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were trapped in the quick drying cement
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the problem started when quick drying
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cement was poured on each floor with
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without waiting for the layers to dry
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due to the rush and the endless hours of
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working too much was poured resulting in
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the disaster Nina bennu former public
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relations officer for the experimental
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Cinema of the Philippines and the Manila
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International Film Festival saw the
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immediate aftermath of the accident
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bennu was also the daughter of former
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press secretary and columnist Teddy
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bennu who was then working for Agents
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from unpress Teddy wanted to write a
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story about it and he told Nina that she
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should rush to the site from a distance
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I could see people in stretches being
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carried out Frozen in cement when I got
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there they were still digging out people
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the cement was not completely hard and
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there was a guy that they were trying to
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keep from going into shock she said in
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an interview half of his body was buried
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he was alive but half buried I don't
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what it was but to keep him awake alert
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not to go into a coma or shock they kept
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him singing Christmas songs I was
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watching this she added for fear that
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the accident would cause a scandal there
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was immediate blackout responders were
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only allowed access to the site 9 hours
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after the incident by that time at least
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168 workers already died or were buried
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in the cement which already hardened
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Jack hammers were imp empoyed hours
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later there was a gruesome view of
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bodies sticking out of the pavement the
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exposed Parts had to be taped off and
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built over the rule was they had to meet
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the deadline no matter what happened it
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was Betty benet's wife of assistant
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Minister Jose Conrad o benites who
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apparently gave this order to un
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continue construction as if nothing had
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happened the hauntings and strange
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happenings began that day by the
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festival's end 30 Filipino films worth
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$500,000 were sold through a
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distribution deals in West Germany
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Malaysia and France one of them was a
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movie featuring Pino actor Wang Wang
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despite this success Aur seemingly hung
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in the building in the festival
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itself moving forward it suffered a
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financial setback the $5 million subsidy
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allotted for the festival was
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disapproved by then prime minister
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Cesar barata said that the center could
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survive aelder created an agency that
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would later be the movie and television
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review and
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classification board as stated in
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presidential decree
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1986 the board allowed films that were
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close to soft porn to be shown in the
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center the law also Exempted all films
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to be shown during during the festival
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from
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censorship opening wide their doors for
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pornography droves of men were said have
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lined up almost destroying the doors for
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films like virgin
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Forest however earnings from these films
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were not enough to pay for all the debts
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incurred after the marcoses were thrown
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out Rustin took back all of its
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paintings and Furniture when the 1990
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earthquake happened the center was
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abandoned after it was declared
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unstable it was rehabilitated for p300
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million and least in December
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2001 to amazing Philippines theater
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producers of the amazing show in the
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late '90s there was gosp that one of the
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performers of the show was murdered and
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her body dumped on the steps the ghost
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of the performer reportedly joined the
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ghosts that started haunting the area
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decades earlier the amazing Show's lease
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expired in 2009 and for a Time the
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Philippines Senate considered moving
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there but this never happened in
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November 2012 the amazing Philippines
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theater regained its lease but another
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series of unexplainable accidents
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occurred on February 19th 2013 a 3-hour
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fire caused damage amounting to p1.2
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million into the
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building the building continues to be a
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source of inspiration for horror writers
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and a destination for Ghost Hunters are
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there really ghosts inside the Manila
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Film Center or is it simply a ghost of
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the
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Philippines past if bricks could talk
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those at the Manila Film Center would
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have a Sinister story to tell the reason
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the building was rushed so that they
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could house a vanilla Film Festival a
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festival closed down a year later from
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lack of
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money
