Manila Film Center Tragedy

So for this section, I really want to know more and share something with you guys what really happened in the Manila Film Center Tragedy. I don't really have that much knowledge about what happened with the building but I am really interested in finding out why it happened. I have watched several youtube videos about it but I don't think that's enough so I made a research about it and here it goes.

(Chris, 2018) The Manila film Center was started in 1981 and was finally completed in 1982 and was set to be the main building used in the upcoming first Manila International Film Festival, which was organised by the first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos (Chris, 2018). I believe that making structure like these big requires longer period of time rather than completing it by a year, but because Imelda Marcos really liked the idea of mixing in big circles - especially internationally (Chris, 2018). Marcos, wanted her country to follow her ambitions so what happened? She ordered the organisation to rush the construction of the film centre to make it to the Manila International Film Festival (Chris, 2018). The construction started off pretty well until Marcos started changing the plans and causing long delays, bypassing safety regulations in some instances (Chris, 2018). (De Guzman, 2019) With three months to go before the scheduled January event and a budget of $25 million (supposedly allocated for a new wing of the PGH), it was predictably a disaster waiting to happen. Nevertheless, Marcos managed to hire around 4,000 labourers and they rotated among three shifts working 24 hours a day. With a more sensible time frame, the grand lobby would need six weeks. For the centre, 1,000 labourers finished it in just 72 Hours (De Guzman, 2019).

On November 17, 1981, at around 3 a.m., the scaffolding on the fourth floor collapsed and workers were trapped in the quick-drying cement. The problem started when quick-drying cement was poured on each floor without waiting for the layers to dry. Due to the rush and the endless hours of working, too much was poured, leaving the workers buried in it (De Guzman, 2019)

Nena Benigno, former public relations officer for The Experimental Cinema of the Philippines and the Manila International Film Festival, saw the immediate aftermath of the accident. Benigno was also the daughter of former press secretary and columnist, Teddy Benigno, who was then working for Agence France Presse. Teddy wanted to write a story about it and he told Nena that she should rush to the site (De Guzman, 2019).

"From a distance I could see people in stretchers being carried out, frozen in cement. When I got there, they were still digging out people; [the cement] was not completely hard. And there was a guy that they were trying [to] keep from going into shock," she said in an interview (De Guzman, 2019).

"Half of his body was buried. He was alive, but half buried. I don't know what it was, but to keep him awake, alert, not to go into a coma or shock, they kept him singing Christmas songs. I was watching this," she added (De Guzman, 2019).

For fear that the accident would cause a scandal, there was a media blackout. Responders were only allowed access to the site nine hours after the incident. By that time, at least 168 workers already died or were buried in the cement, which already hardened (De Guzman, 2019).

Jackhammers were employed hours later. There was a gruesome view of bodies sticking out of the pavement. The exposed parts had to be tapered off and built over. The rule was they had to meet the deadline, no matter what happened (De Guzman, 2019).

It was Betty Benitez, wife of assistant minister Jose Conrado Benitez, who apparently gave this order to and continue construction as if nothing had happened. The hauntings and strange happenings began that day (De Guzman, 2019).