Spooktacular Pinoy True Crimes

In this episode, Carmina and Patch explore whether Pinoys are serial killer material. They talk about a variety of Pinoy true crimes - one that dates back to the Spanish colonial period, a US true crime that had a goosebump-worthy Pinoy connection, the tragedy of the Manila Film Center and many more guaranteed to be the stuff of sleepless nights.

To learn more: Unsolved Crime Stories In The Philippines To Read After Dark This Halloween, The Brutal History of the 'Chop-Chop Ladies', Why this family is convinced its patriarch is the Black Dahlia killer, Victim or Villain? The Untold Story of the Priest Who Became the First Filipino Serial Killer,  From the New York Times Archives: Manila Film Festival Proves All-Out Spectacular, The Ghost Story of Balete Drive, and From ghost story to urban legend: Authenticating 'The Lady in White of Balete Drive’.   

To view a rare footage from the Manila Film Center tragedy, go to time stamp 00:30 in this video: VIRAL: Clip of Lino Brocka talking about the Manila Film Center tragedy.

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Transcript

Carmina 0:06

Welcome to FilTrip, a podcast where we explore everything fun, weird, and in between about the Philippines. And now a quick shout out. Check out Manila Candle. Manila Candle features Filipino inspired scents like Tagaytay, Palawan, Ube Halaya and Buco and Mango. They also have fun ones like Ay Nako and Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo.

Patch 0:35

Enjoy their car fresheners, wax melts and merchandise too. Visit manilacandle.com and take a trip to the Philippines through their scents.

Carmina 0:46

Back to our show.

Patch 0:48

Today's trip is a horror trip when we talk about hair-raising events and spooky stories about the Philippines.

Carmina 0:58

<laugh>. So Patch, by the time we release this episode, it's going to be around Halloween in the United States.

Patch 1:06

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,

Carmina 1:07

Which is widely celebrated and is actually a fun time for kids, even if it has, you know, those spooky undertones. And then on the other hand, the days that are really big in the Philippines around the same time are November 1, which is All Saints' Day, and November 2, which is All Souls' Day.

Patch 1:30

We decided to do an episode on true crime.

Carmina 1:34

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>

Patch 1:34

Because my daughter, Marissa, suggested we do a true crime episode, which is very popular nowadays. Those true crime podcasts. Right?

Carmina 1:44

Right. And also because November 2 is All Souls' Day, which is really for me, between the two days, All Saints' and All Souls' Day is the bigger holiday in the Philippines. And so that kind of is perfect for true crimes because we remember our deceased relatives and friends and loved ones on November 2, in the Philippines.

Patch 2:08

<laugh>,

Carmina 2:08

What?

Patch 2:09

I think why, why does remembering our deceased loved ones?<laugh> What are, what are you trying to say?

Carmina 2:22

Oh no, I didn't mean that. True crimes is like directly related to the November 2, but, but I'm just saying that it's an apt thing to talk about in terms of the spooky side of things.

Patch 2:37

<laugh>. Oh, okay. I thought I was gonna learn something new about you.

Carmina 2:41

And my deceased relatives? No.

Patch 2:43

<laugh>. Okay.

Carmina 2:44

At least you better hope not.

Patch 2:47

<laugh>. I am a little disappointed now<laugh>. But...

Carmina 2:51

So before we dive in, Patch, I have a question for you.

Patch 2:54

Okay.

Carmina 2:55

Do you think there are serial killers in the Philippines?

Patch 2:59

Well, there's a lot of killers.<laugh> In the Philippines.

Carmina 3:02

<laugh>, I found this really funny article,

Patch 3:05

A funny article, okay.

Carmina 3:08

Oh, I know, right? W ait, that sounds wrong. But I found an article on Esquire Mag that talked about this.

Patch 3:15

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 3:15

The theories ranged from the hilarious to the thought-provoking.

Patch 3:21

Like what?

Carmina 3:22

One of the theories is, because we're a culture that's always up in each other's business.<laugh> We're so tsimosa and tsismoso that, you know, no one can do any kind of shenanigans like that because like, you know, what's going on with your neighbor or your family member.

Patch 3:39

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 3:39

All the time. So I guess that just means that we're just so socially connected.

Patch 3:44

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 3:44

There's another one that said, Well, we're actually a happy people and mentally healthier. Do you agree with that statement,

Patch 3:52

<laugh> Well, in a way, because didn't they say we're too consumed with day-to-day struggles?

Carmina 3:59

Right. We just want to survive.

Patch 4:01

Our form of escapism is entertainment.

Carmina 4:04

That's true.

Patch 4:06

And that makes us the part about the happy people and whatnot. But also, isn't there supposed to be like a profile of, of what makes a serial killer and we don't fit the profile? I guess.

Carmina 4:18

This article also said that law enforcement are not able to see trends either because of lack of resources or incompetence. So that was one of the funnier, but really not so funny if you think about it, reasons why. And then another one that was kind of true, there are no basements in the Philippines.

Patch 4:41

<laugh>.

Carmina 4:44

When I read that, I laughed out loud cuz I'm like, oh, that's true. You know, we don't have basements. So a lot of serial killings. You have to have like the proper place to do it, I guess.

Patch 4:57

To dispose? Okay.

Carmina 4:58

To dispose, to store. The other thing that's also in a little bit more serious light, our serial killers are actually in the limelight and hold public office<laugh>, not to be political, but the comments were just referencing the extra judicial killings that happened under the former administration as actually a form of endorsed serial killing by people in uniform. So that was very thought provoking.

Patch 5:25

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>,

Carmina 5:25

Speaking of serial killers, there is in fact a famous one from way, way back, as in the early 1800's.<laugh> Did you know about this?

Patch 5:36

No. Tell me.

Carmina 5:39

You might be shocked to know that he was a priest. This person's name is Padre Juan Severino Mallari. So Father Mallari dedicated his life to the priesthood. But the friars were very territorial when it came to the church because it's a position that holds so much power. And they also did not believe in equal treatment of the Filipino clergy, as we know. So poor father Mallari was constantly frustrated because he really wanted to be a parish priest. And he was rejected many, many times, even though he was said to be really intelligent. In fact, he graduated from the University of Santo Thomas, which is the oldest educational institution in the Philippines, and even Asia I think.

Patch 6:31

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 6:32

One thing that he did really well though was calligraphy. He was one of very few Filipinos and Filipino priests who mastered it. So I guess maybe that's the talent that finally got him noticed, because he was said to write annual parish reports and his calligraphy was often very heavy on the heavenly imagery. So he was finally appointed to be a parish priest in a town called Magalang in Pampanga.

Patch 7:03

Did you find out why he became a serial killer?

Carmina 7:07

Apparently he had mommy issues.

Patch 7:08

Oh mommy dearest.

Carmina 7:11

He had a very complicated relationship with his mom. When she got sick, he thought that he was bewitched. He believed that the only thing that could cure her was by killing people. He really believed that she was possessed.

Patch 7:28

Okay.

Carmina 7:28

And that only killing people would cure it and Patch, he killed at least fifty-seven people over a period of approximately ten years.

Patch 7:39

Oh my gosh. Wait, how did they know that he was the killer?

Carmina 7:45

He himself got sick.

Patch 7:46

Okay.

Carmina 7:47

And so another priest was sent to be his caretaker, and it was this priest who found all his murder weapons that he apparently didn't bother to hide<laugh>.

Patch 7:57

So how would he kill his victims?

Carmina 8:00

Also not well-documented. His parishioners, just one by one started disappearing. And this caretaker kind of connected the dots when he saw all of the bloody weapons.

Patch 8:11

Oh my.

Carmina 8:12

I also didn't see any indication whether his mom was still alive by this point. But not only was he the first Filipino serial killer, he was also the first priest to be hanged even ahead of Gomburza, who we talked about in a previous episode in our first season.

Patch 8:31

So he was quite the trail blazer<laugh>.

Carmina 8:34

I know, right. Of all the things, What's ironic is that, and a lot of articles I read, it was said that the Spanish were really ahead of the times when it came to treating mental illness. And in fact, they had already been treating mental illness in Spain for about two decades by the time Father Mallari was discovered. So again, it's just another evidence of how differently Filipinos were treated because obviously someone like that would have mental issues. Right?

Patch 9:05

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 9:05

And it puts probably readily recognized, but just imprisoned him apparently for over a decade before he eventually got hanged for his crimes.

Patch 9:15

That is certainly hair-raisng. It's kind of disturbing, fifties. I can't get over that number though. That's a lot of victims.

Carmina 9:24

At least that's what's been passed down through the generations.

Patch 9:28

There is this case of the chop chop lady. Yes. Lucila Lalu, whose body parts were discovered throughout the city. On May 28th, 1967, a pair of legs was discovered in Santa Cruz Manila.

Carmina 9:46

Oh my.

Patch 9:47

And then the next day a headless and legless torso was discovered in Edsa,

Carmina 9:55

Edsa!

Patch 9:55

Yes. Police in the Philippines at that time had a difficult time uncovering the origins of the dismembered, you know, bodies.

Carmina 10:05

Wait.

Patch 10:05

O?

Carmina 10:05

How far is Santa Cruz from Edsa?<laugh>. Wow! That's far.

Patch 10:13

Yeah. And in fact, they described it as if they were putting together a puzzle. Right?

Carmina 10:17

Right.

Patch 10:18

There was a fingerprint from an old police clearance file that eventually led them to the identity of the body.

Carmina 10:26

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 10:27

Who's a business woman who owned a cocktail lounge and also I believe a salon. Apparently Lucila was murdered and there were several suspects. One of the suspect was her common law husband, Aniano De Vera whom she had a child with. I believe he was a police officer.

Carmina 10:49

What?

Patch 10:49

And he was married actually to another woman. He was known to, you know, have a temper. He fired his gun while at her salon one day and he might be the killer. But then another suspect came to rise in this whole uh, situation, another lover of hers, Jose Luis Santiano, came forward and confessed to killing Lalu. Santiano was a dental student and son of a retired colonel. And they believe he is the killer because of the way the body was, I guess chopped up. There was some kind of evidence that the person had some kind of medical knowledge. So Santiano stated in his handwritten statement that he refused to sleep with Lalu one evening and that she threatened to cause a scandal causing him to go insane and kill her. He testified that he kept the body under his bed and then used public transportation to dispose of Lalu's body parts in several different occasions.

Carmina 11:55

Oh. That's why it was separated, cuz he could not just bring, I guess, the whole body.

Patch 12:03

Well, to your point a while ago about us not having basements,<laugh>

Carmina 12:08

Under the bed. Right. Poor woman.

Patch 12:12

But you know what's strange is a few days later he recanted his statement and in fact he claimed that he was forced to witness the crime. And there are three men who were the murderers. Not him. I don't know why he was eventually released, but do you remember the Black Dahlia killings in LA?

Carmina 12:33

Yeah.

Patch 12:35

So in 2003, there's this Los Angeles police detective, his name is Steve Hodel.

Carmina 12:42

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 12:42

So he published this book about the Black Dahlia. It's called the Black Dahlia Avenger, The True Story. And um, he mentioned here that he believes his father, George Hill Hodel is the killer of the Black Dahlia. And because the Black Dahlia, there's also indication that the killer might be someone who was in the medical field. But interestingly, Dr. Hodel lived in the Philippines in the 1960s, and in fact was married to a Filipina. His son, Steve Hodel, believes that he might be the killer of Lucila.

Carmina 13:23

Wow. I was starting to wonder what the connection was to the Philippines.

Patch 13:27

I don't think they ever really put anyone away for the killing of Lucila.

Carmina 13:33

Okay. This next one, Patch, you were reacting to the fifty-seven dead.

Patch 13:39

Oh no, I, I have to, I think I have to brace myself.<laugh>.

Carmina 13:42

It's about the Manila Film Center. So I remember this because there were so many international stars who went to the Philippines. There was Brooke Shields, B en Kingsley, Robert D uval, George Hamilton, Priscilla Presley. And I remember coverage of this on TV and lots and lots of publicity leading up to the event. I even found a really glowing article in the New York Times archives that came out on F ebruary 7th, 1982, which we'll link in our show notes. That said that Imelda looked like a queen. Imelda Marcos, who was the first lady at that time. And it described her as having these diamond teardrop earrings, diamond bracelets, and I can't even imagine th is P atch. A two fo ot d i amond n ecklace.

Patch 14:39

What?

Carmina 14:40

I mean, all those diamonds must have been really heavy. Sounds good. Right? So I was reading the article. I was wondering whether it would mention anything else about what happened because the headline number one was really so glowing.

Patch 14:56

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 14:57

So towards the middle of the article, they mentioned in spite of t he star-studied, you know, nature of the event, there were other stars like Charlton Heston, Jody Foster, and other big stars who did not attend because they caught wind of the history of this building.< laugh>, for those who don't know, the Manila Film Center was conceived because then First Lady Imelda Marcos wanted the Philippines to be the center of arts and culture in Asia, and she wanted to rival other cities in the world that hosted international film festivals. She k inda wanted to be like the Cannes of Asia. I mean, if you think about it, is there really anything wrong with that?

Patch 15:42

No.

Carmina 15:43

Of course, that's a great goal, a great aspiration. The problem was, it was a last minute decision, according to the article.

Patch 15:54

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 15:54

So the article was published on February 7th, 1982, which was the date that it was held. But construction was finished only on January 18th. So they only had six months from the time that the decision was made to the time this thing was built. It was so fresh. The guests didn't notice right away that there was kind of like cement dust on the heels of their shoes and their gowns.

Patch 16:25

<laugh>. Basically the feet was still drying.

Carmina 16:27

The other fact about this that kind of doesn't really make this whole tragedy surprising is that it was built on reclaimed land from Manila Bay.

Patch 16:39

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 16:40

Apparently was made to look like the Parthenon. They wanted to also create a beach resort near this. Do you remember any beaches around there,<laugh>?

Patch 16:50

No. I mean, there's water, obviously it's the Bay.

Carmina 16:54

Bay. And the other thing that was really disturbing about this, this project, which was funded by the Central Bank of the Philippines for millions. It was undertaken when there was an Asian financial crisis, plus a Philippine economic crisis. And of course the icing on the cake was the administration's excesses. During that time.

Patch 17:20

I remember rumors of people buried alive. Am I remembering that correctly?

Carmina 17:26

You are. And undertones of it were mentioned in the article. So thousands of workers were working in shifts around the clock because they didn't have a lot of time to build this thing. So on November 17th at 3:00 AM there was an upper scaffolding that collapsed. And the reason why was there was no time to dry layers of cement before adding on additional layers. I don't know a lot about construction, but.<laugh>,

Patch 17:54

But you would think you have to wait for things to dry,<laugh>.

Carmina 17:57

There were people to your earlier statement that were said to be half buried. They kept pouring cement over these bodies still alive with no real effort to save them.

Patch 18:09

Oh my gosh. I know these were rumors. Was there any evidence to substantiate these rumors?

Carmina 18:18

So there was an order not to enter the building for the first nine hours. So there were no emergency workers or police that were allowed inside during that time. Media blackouts were very common.

Patch 18:34

Right.

Carmina 18:35

And nobody really knows in those first few hours. But there were a few interviews by people who had first witness accounts, and one of them was from the actual person who was overseeing the construction. Her name was Nena Benitez.

Patch 18:50

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 18:50

She gave an interview in which she said that she saw some of these things that we were describing. She didn't really say in this interview how many people, but it did not sound like a handful. So the number is disputed. Some say it's seven, other people say 168, even if it was just seven, it's still horrific.

Patch 19:13

Even if it was just one, that would still be horrific.

Carmina 19:17

This person that I was talking about who was overseeing and apparently was given the order to just pour over these half buried bodies.

Patch 19:26

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 19:27

Died in a freak accident. And a lot of the urban legends that surround this is said to have also been seen as a ghost.

Patch 19:35

Really spooky.

Carmina 19:37

I wonder if any of these things happened while the stars were there, but some of the things that were described were disembodied, moaning.

Patch 19:47

Oh my.

Carmina 19:48

Strange smells.

Patch 19:51

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 19:51

Burst of cold wind, apparitions of half a torso. And then taxi drivers recounted picking up a woman from the front of the center who was very bloodied, asked to be taken to the hospital, but would then suddenly disappear.

Patch 20:10

Actually, for whatever reason, I am remembering this joke.<laugh>.

Carmina 20:16

What joke?

Patch 20:21

Because you mentioned about the taxi and this bloody woman.

Carmina 20:25

Oh, that was the next one. I was gonna talk about.

Patch 20:32

Do you remember the driving? I think it's about late at night in Balete Drive.

Carmina 20:36

Yes. That was the next thing I wanted to talk about. The White Lady of Balete Drive.

Patch 20:43

Yeah.<laugh>.

Carmina 20:44

And there the jokes that ensued as part of that urban legend. So go ahead tell the joke, then we'll go serious.

Patch 20:53

I don't know if my punchline is going to be effective because I don't remember it completely, but it's okay. So there's this jeepney driver who picked up this lady.

Carmina 21:03

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 21:03

And every time he would break, the lady would disappear in his rear view mirror, and then when she would reappear, she would appear bloody.

Carmina 21:15

And bloodier. And bloodier.

Patch 21:18

<laugh>. And finally when she was getting off, like she was cursing him out,<laugh> because apparently he was breaking too hard. So she would like basically hit her face or something.

Carmina 21:33

And then he was getting more scared and scared that it was the White Lady.

Patch 21:37

Right. Yeah. I ruined it. Anyway,

Carmina 21:41

I mean, I'm sure our contemporaries will remember this joke.

Patch 21:47

The delivery was awful.<laugh>.

Carmina 21:50

So that's a great segue to the next one, which is the White Lady of Balete Drive.

Patch 21:56

Right. Okay.

Carmina 21:57

These are all things that were happening or were urban legends when we were growing up, which is why I, I gravitated towards these. So guess when this thing happened? Guess a year.

Patch 22:09

Seventy-five? I don't know,

Carmina 22:11

Mid 1950s.

Patch 22:14

What?

Carmina 22:14

And there were several movies made about it over the years, which was probably even why it endured, right?

Patch 22:21

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 22:21

I think there's three movies about this, and it's featured Trese, in this Netflix show that we talked about before.

Patch 22:29

Wait, so this urban legend is based on true crime?

Carmina 22:32

Yeah, apparently it is. I found an article by an author of the Philippine Inquirer that he wrote in 2013, and he was retelling how he was assigned to the story when he was a newbie reporter in the mid fifties. He interviewed several people because at that time, this was a sensational accident in the Balete Drive neighborhood. The White Lady was killed there because of a hit and run accident. There were no witnesses and the driver was never caught.

Patch 23:02

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 23:03

The reason why Balete Drive in itself as a neighborhood was just the right setting for this kind of urban legend to propagate is because the tree, the Balete, is said to be the favorite hangout of spirits.

Patch 23:18

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Carmina 23:19

And the Balete Drive neighborhood itself didn't have good lighting because the sidewalks had these huge Balete trees on either side, and the lights from the houses didn't reach the street because it was an affluent neighborhood. They were surrounded by high concrete walls.

Patch 23:38

So there was plenty of opportunity to make a crime if someone were like walking.

Carmina 23:44

To your earlier reference about taxi drivers or jeepney drivers with ladies, that is also one of the most common stories that propagated, that people driving through saw a woman in a white dress hitch hiking, and the woman would be asked to drop off at an upcoming corner, and so the driver would let this woman in, in the backseat. But when he turned around to ask a question, she wasn't there.

Patch 24:12

But wait, what does the true crime related to? Was there really a lady who was found dead?

Carmina 24:17

There was a lady who was found dead in the mid 1950s

Patch 24:21

And the crime was never solved.

Carmina 24:23

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 24:25

Okay. So Carmina, speaking of a crime that wasn't solved, do you remember this famous actress, Nida Blanca?

Carmina 24:33

I loved her. Yes.

Patch 24:36

John and Marsha Comedy show featuring, well, Nida Blanca and comedian Dolphy.

Carmina 24:42

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 24:42

Yeah. So I didn't really know about the circumstances of her death until recently, but apparently she was murdered in November of 2001. Her body was discovered in the backseat of her car. So it was all very shocking because obviously she's famous and very well loved. She was last seen attending a meeting. You know, she was basically reported missing. Nobody, you know, knew where she was. The prime suspect was her husband, or is it her ex-husband? I don't know the details, but the reason why he was a suspect was because she apparently removed him from her will.

Carmina 25:29

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>.

Patch 25:29

But the twist was a few days after her death. P hilip M edel apparently was a hitman who surrendered himself and who claimed h e murdered Nida Blanca. He claimed that it was under the direction of R od Strunk her husband or former husband. But a few days after that, he did retract his statement and he claimed that he was forced by the police into confessing the murder.

Carmina 25:58

H mm.

Patch 25:59

It's unfortunate though, that this crime is not solved because her husband flew back to the US a year after her death. I don't know why they would've let him leave the country if he was a suspect. I think we were requesting extradition.

26:15

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. But we were denied and he was allowed basically to remain in the US until he committed suicide in 2007, jumping from the balcony of an inn California where he lived at that time. To this day, Nida Blanca's case has not been solved and both suspects have already died and it remains unsolved.

Carmina 26:38

I was following it because she was such a huge part of our childhood.

Patch 26:43

Yeah. So sad.

Carmina 26:46

So Patch, I really hope that all of these souls that we talked about are resting in peace wherever they are, and our heartfelt prayers to all of the souls who have passed. Please don't visit us tonight,<laugh>.

Patch 27:07

And that's our episode. We hope you join us on our next trip.

Carmina 27:13

O siya, siya!

Patch 27:15

Ingat! Thanks for listening to FilTrip with Carmina and Patch. Support FilTrip through Patreon or PayPal, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever all podcasts are downloaded.

Carmina 27:34

Thanks to FilTrip sponsor, Solepack, a functional shoe accessory bag. Visit thesolepack.com for more details.

Patch 27:43

Email us at thefiltrip@gmail.com.