From Palace media office: A ‘horror’ special
Not only does Malacañang often deal with ghosts of administrations past.
Sometimes, on certain nights and in half-hidden nooks, Palace employees report actual encounters of the eerie kind.
Paranormal experiences in the country’s seat of power have made for an All Saints’ Day and All Souls Day’ special dubbed “Malacañang Horror Stories,” a nearly 14-minute video produced by the radio-TV division of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
The project, released on the PCO’s social media channels on Thursday, is apparently the first of its kind to come from the Palace media arm. It mainly consisted of interviews with the employees and used actors to dramatize their scary episodes.
One story told of Master Sgt. Ramsam Gordo, a member of the security team for the last 28 years, who, during one of his graveyard shifts, recounted hearing children playing at the Rizal Hall—around 1 a.m.
“I went to check every corner because the children may just be hiding, but there was no one there at all,” Gordo said.
He recalled another disturbing sighting, this time while on duty at Malacañang’s Gate 4, where he had a good view of the Palace main lobby that was just a short walk away.
He said he saw three men in barong standing at the lobby —again, at around 1 a.m.
Nothing unusual, he thought: guards would normally be posted there—but often just two at a time, not three.
After a few minutes, he approached one of the two guards left in the area and learned that they never had a third member joining them during the watch.
But the spooky part was yet to come: later that morning, another guard posted at Gate 4—after being told about the mysterious third man—took a photo of the main lobby while no one was there.
According to Gordo, the resulting image showed a man, in barong, and “headless.”
‘Prayer vigil’
Rian Cortel, a Malacañang employee for the last 18 years, shared another chilling encounter.
He was still on the housekeeping staff at the time, and they had to stay late at the Palace for a “prayer vigil.” Suddenly, the lights went out in the room where they were gathered.
Cortel said he later had to go to another area on the second floor, and there he noticed, a few feet away, “a couple in white” just staring out the window.
At first he thought nothing of it. Before leaving the room, he even told the couple that the vigil was being held downstairs. He left them without getting a response.
Cortel would realize only later that he probably came across no ordinary Palace dwellers.
For 11 years, Laylanie de Dios said she, too, had many paranormal experiences, from encountering a doppelganger to hearing children playing in the halls of Malacañang.
She said she often felt some “presence” in different parts of the building, including the stairs where she saw “a priest” in a maroon habit.
Chefs’ tales
Once, on the ground floor, she saw “marching soldiers” in native hats.
De Dios recalled one afternoon when she and a coworker were taking a nap in the old stockroom and, suddenly, a man “stepped over” the two of them.
Even the old kitchen was not too hot for such otherworldly residents. Malacañang chef Katrina Matias shared two instances where she saw a blur of a man in black chef’s uniform passing by the hallway, and later a nurse who was “watching” her cook.
During the pandemic, Matias said, she was still on duty at the Palace when she and her daughter had a video call. At one point, she moved the phone in order to show a coworker to her daughter.
But instead of seeing just one extra person in the frame, her daughter saw another—someone not in the room during the call.
Rhiza Mullet, another Palace chef, said she once came across “a waiter” who greeted her in the hallway one morning.
She felt a chill moments later and, turning around, saw that the waiter was inexplicably gone.
When she asked the other employees about the person, “they were all stunned,” Mullet recalled. They said they knew that man—but he had died due to Covid-19. “That waiter was known for being such a workaholic,” Mullet said in the video.
From meeting a jolly waiter, Mullet also had a searing memory of “an angry-looking man.”
It happened when she was just new on the job and fresh recruits like her were given a tour of the Palace, with the senior chefs serving as their guides.
During the tour, their guides recalled how they once had a kick sitting on the old stately chairs, the kind used by past Presidents.
It was at this point, Mullet said, that she saw a man emerging from behind one of the chairs, staring at her, shedding tears of blood.
When she unintentionally looked him in the eye as well, she felt as though he teleported and was suddenly near her.
She said she could still recall how she felt that very moment: “My hands got cold … I just told myself: ‘I’m not hearing him; he’s not real at all.’”
