Urban legend

The first Manila International Film Festival was scheduled in January of 1982. Because the Philippines did not have an official national film archive, then-First Lady Imelda Marcos—the dictator's wife with the gazillion shoe collection—spearheaded the construction of a film center which would serve as the main theater of the festival aside from becoming the central repository of the country's creative film output. That was in January of 1981, and because of the tight schedule, thousands of construction workers were hired to work round the clock in three shifts. Then, in November, a great tragedy occurred. A section of the scaffolding collapsed, and about 170 workers fell and were buried in the quick-drying cement. The Marcos administration immediately imposed an information blackout on the event, and rescue workers and medics weren't allowed on the scene until after nine hours. Eventually though, the Manila Film Center was finished on time and the festival pushed through. Because of the accident, however, the center was always thought to be haunted. It is said that because of the nine hours that passed before rescuers were permitted to do their job, some of the construction workers were entombed alive and their bodies were left in the hardened concrete slabs of the building.