Can glitzy gay shows exorcise film center's 'ghosts'?

By BOY VILLASANTA
ABS-CBN NEWS - Manila
29th January 2008

Thanks to a group of enterprising group of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino investors, the Manila Film Center is now known--to foreign tourists, at least--for more positive things instead of its old, ghastly reputation.

What this consortium -- now known as The Center for Philippine Arts, Culture and Entertainment Production, Inc., -- did was establish the Amazing Philippine Theater, which regularly features, glitzy, glamorous and delightfully campy performances by the most beautiful transvestites in the country.

Although the consortium has not renovated the entire building, it has refurbished the theater area where APT performances are staged six nights a week.

The APT has truly done something amazing: turning a decrepit, abandoned structure with a reputation for being haunted, if not accursed, into a sought-after tourist destination.

While many Filipinos still get the creeps when they think about the Manila Film Center in the far corner of the sprawling Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, tourists from all over Asia, Koreans in particular, are having fun-filled nights watching the glitzy, glamorous and campy productions by Amazing Philippine Theater.

The APT productions, which were at first patterned after lavish transvestite shows in places like Thailand, have grown into acclaimed visual and musical extravaganzas.

According to those who have watched the APT shows, the Filipino transvestites prove to be superior performers compared to their Thai counterparts.

Urban legend?

Despite persistent stories regarding the supposed restless spirits inside the MFC, no serious investigation has been made regarding the truth of what really happened on Nov. 17, 1981 when an upper floor of the building collapsed.

The upper floor as well as the scaffolding fell on construction workers right after quick-drying concrete had been poured onto the foundation.

Then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos ordered a news blackout on the accident but the move couldn't stop horror stories from spreading around.

According to the rumors, scores of workers who were on the scaffolding ended up either impaled on steel bars sticking out of the foundation, or were stuck in quick-drying cement.

Supposedly, then First Lady Imelda Marcos was in a hurry to finish the construction in time for the MFC's inauguration in January, so in order to save time, no effort was made to dig out the bodies from the quick-drying cement.

As a quick fix, more concrete was allegedly poured onto the foundation, entombing the bodies inside.

Even worse, a version of the rumor states that some still-living workers who had one or more limbs stuck in the drying concrete met a gruesome fate: their stuck limbs were simply amputated and left behind, encased in concrete.

While it is an established fact that the accident did happen, what's more speculative is whether bodies were really entombed at the site.

There is also no recorded evidence that the amputations took place.

At least one investigative reporter, Howie Severino, has gone on record to state that after doing his own probe, the more sensational rumors, i.e., entombed bodies, amputations, etc., are part of an urban legend.

He also believes that less than a dozen workers died in the incident as opposed to rumors that state a figure well over a hundred victims.

(Then again, Severino has probably not spoken to this writer's elementary schoolmate, who claims to have lost her husband in the accident. She said that the body of her husband, along with those of the other victims, remain entombed at the site.)

On with the show

Whether there are really ghosts at the MFC or not, one thing is for sure: they are not haunting any of the shows by Amazing Philippine Theater.

Since December 10, 2001, the APT has held well-attended productions at the MFC with no one complaining about any vengeful spirits.

Quite the opposite, the foreign tourists who go there report having a great time watching the show and love the location as well, which is near the romantic and historic Manila Bay.

This writer came to the MFC over the weekend to watch the January finals of the Amazing Theater Philippine Singing Star 2008, a separate show, where a torch singer, Cherryl Ubasa, won the grand prize.

She will come back in November to record for Amazing Records and in December 6, 2008 to compete for the grand finals.

Singer, comic and host Arnell Ignacio was master of ceremonies at the event. He did not get any supernatural vibes.

“Ngayon lang ako nakatuntong dito sa Film Center. Hindi naman pala nakakatakot. (This is my first time here in the Film Center. It’s not frightening, after all),” said Arnell.