Palace workers share ghost encounters

MANILA, Philippines — In this season of “ghost” projects, employees at Malacañang Palace shared their creepy encounters with ghosts – the supernatural kind –  while working at the official residence of the president of the republic.

In a Halloween special posted on the social media account of Radio Television Malacañang late Thursday, the video titled “Malacañang Horror Stories” featured the encounters of presidential guard M/Sgt. Ramsan Gordo, chef Katrina Matias and employees Rian Cortel, Rhiza Mullet and Laylanie de Dios while working at the Palace.

A presidential guard since 1998, Gordo recalled hearing voices of children playing at the Rizal Hall at 1 a.m. When Gordo went up to check, he found no one there.

Cortel also had an encounter at the Rizal Hall, with a couple clad in white looking out the window. When he approached them, the couple did not respond.

He said his co-workers had talked about seeing such apparitions, “of people dressed in white, who looked like a married couple, standing and looking out the window.”

De Dios, who has been working at the Palace for 11 years, narrated several creepy experiences, including a doppelganger who disappeared, a child playing, marching soldiers and a priest in maroon on the stairs.

Chef Matias recalled seeing men in black passing along the hallway, like shadows.

“When I was at the old kitchen, I saw one wearing a black chef’s jacket. We don’t wear black jackets here, we always wear white,” Matias said.

She also spotted a nurse who was watching her while she cooked.

As for Mullet, she saw a tall waiter in the quadrangle who greeted her “good morning.” But when she turned to look closer, he disappeared.

Mullet said her co-workers later told her that the waiter, known to be a workaholic, had died of COVID-19.