Manila: In the quiet hours between shifts, Malaca±ang guards, housekeepers, and staff trade stories of unseen visitors - laughter echoing through empty halls, footsteps on marble floors, and figures that vanish into thin air.
According to Philippines News Agency, for those who have worked behind the gates of power, ghost stories are as common as the change of presidents. For them, Malaca±ang is not just the seat of government - it is a house of memories and, perhaps, of those who never left.
Master Sergeant Ramsam Gordo, a presidential guard for 28 years, describes the air around the Malaca±ang grounds as strangely heavy, as if history itself begins to breathe again - thick with whispers, laughter of unseen children, footsteps echoing where no one walks, and shadows that flicker in the dim light of corridors once walked by presidents and heroes.
Gordo has served in the Palace since 1998, long enough to witness the rise and fall of administrations, and long enough to know that some things in Malaca±ang defy logic. He has seen presidents come and go, but the presence of unseen individuals, including children, has never left. He recalled his first haunting while standing at the foot of the grand Palace staircase around 1 a.m., hearing children playing and making noise upstairs at Rizal Hall. Despite investigating, he found no one there.
In the main lobby, Gordo was certain he saw three men in barong where there should have been only two. This presence was later confirmed by a photo taken at night, capturing a faint outline of a headless figure wearing a barong in the empty lobby.
Housekeeper Rian Cortel, who has worked at Malaca±ang for nearly two decades, has also had eerie encounters. While ascending the stairs near a glass window, he thought he saw a couple dressed in white, just standing and staring out the window. His co-workers had mentioned sightings of people there, adding to the mystery.
Laylanie de Dios, working at the Palace for more than a decade, has encountered doppelgangers and people who vanished into thin air. During the pandemic, while Palace employees quarantined inside the compound, Malaca±ang chef Katrina Matias's daughter noticed a doppelganger during a video call. De Dios also reported seeing a monk, soldiers, and a huge figure walking past her.
The Palace kitchen has its own specter, as recalled by Matias, who encountered the unseen presence of a man in a black chef's jacket, a uniform not worn by the staff. When mentioned to colleagues, it was suggested she might have seen the old head chef who had died long ago.
Palace employee Rhiza Mullet had a chilling encounter with a ghostly waiter who greeted her one morning, only to vanish when she turned around. Her colleagues later revealed that the waiter had died of Covid and was known for being a workaholic.
During a Palace tour, Mullet noticed a big man standing beside an antique chair used by presidents. When she and her co-workers joked about sitting in it, the man became furious, causing Mullet to feel a sudden heaviness and coldness.
These haunting experiences have become almost ordinary for those working at the Palace, as they learn to coexist with the supernatural.
