“Patay! Naa gyud ni karon da!”
Niel Acaso, a night shift guard at the former Palace of Justice, found himself uttering this out loud dawn of March 2024 when the dogs that typically litter about the compound were incessantly howling and barking.
As part of his roving duties, Acaso had to check what was causing distress to the canines. Aiming his flashlight on the door that the dogs were snarling at, he saw nothing.
Acaso, 50, said the whimpering sounded fearful; the erratic, hyperactive behavior seemed to signal uneasiness.
He couldn’t help but feel the same.
“Kining mga iro, makakita baya ni sila,” said Acaso. (These dogs, they can detect spirits.)
Acaso’s shift typically starts at 10 pm and ends at 6 am. During these ungodly hours, agitated dogs for no apparent reason aren’t the only incidents that have sent shivers down his spine.
In the dimly lit corridors of the abandoned Marcelo Fernan Chief Justice Hall, he would at times hear voices coming from the courtrooms, as if people in conversation.
“There’s a woman who seems to be giving a sermon,” he told The FREEMAN. “Another voice seems to be castigating a misbehaving child.”
Each time he makes his way to the comfort room on the first floor of the hallway, he could at times hear muffled cries, or feel a thick chill in the air. And more voices.
The old Palace of Justice has been abandoned since 2013 after sustaining massive damage from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit neighboring province Bohol on October 15.
Located behind the executive building within the Capitol compound, it once accommodated the Regional and Municipal Trial Courts, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the Public Attorney’s Office.
Since the 2013 natural disaster, the justice hall contains nothing but documents, with the guards on duty tasked to secure these.
Acaso believes that the legal papers aren’t the only remnants in the abandoned building.
Just this September, five police officers asked for Acaso’s permission to access the fourth floor so they can document from a good vantage point the fireworks display that would cap an event at the Capitol.
“Kamo gud, adtoa lang didto ninyo Sir. Suwayi lang ninyo didto,” Acaso told the cops, who were carrying M16 rifles. (It’s up to you, go ahead Sir. Just give it a try.)
Not long after, the police officers ran down in panic.
“Dili nami chief uy, hadlok gyud kaayo,” a female cop told Acaso. “Murag naa gyud.” (We’re no longer going back, it’s very scary. There really seems to be a presence.)
When shown their footage, Acaso said the fireworks were not captured and the video was unfinished – as if someone was trying to prevent them from recording.
Prior to the cops’ hair-raising experience, Acaso said that when he would be roving the building to ensure safety on all floors, there’d be a sense of unease once he reached the fourth floor.
He described feeling like someone was following him. “Murag naa man gyu’y tao, bisan hayag,” he said. (It feels like there’s another presence, even in broad daylight.)
Less than a year since being assigned at the former Palace of Justice, Acaso no longer conducts his rounds alone.
“Bisan buntag naa gyud uy. Ang akong madunggan naay saba sa taas, mag sige’g yawyaw. Walay tao, matingala ka nganong naay mag-yawyaw,” he said. (Even at daytime, there is a presence. I could hear noise from the upper floors, a voice constantly ranting. There’s no one, so we’d wonder why we hear someone ranting.)
On the same floor in 2013, a first-of-its-kind act of violence took place on January 22.
A 67-year-old Canadian was killed after he went on a shooting rampage at the Palace of Justice – targeting a doctor and a lawyer in a courtroom filled with litigants, before moving to another courtroom where he shot a female prosecutor.
John Holdridge Pope, a former journalist, aimed for the head when he fired an unlicensed .357 caliber revolver at his victims.
In a report by The FREEMAN, the ten-minute bloodbath ended when two responding police officers shot Pope in the thigh and wrist, but he shot himself in the temple before the law enforcement officers could approach.
Media reports cited Pope’s “dismay at the snail-paced Philippine justice system” regarding cases filed against him by a doctor as the reason for him going berserk.
Acaso and two other guards who didn’t want to be named believe that this could be one of the reasons for their eerie experiences inside the abandoned building.
“Naay kahadlok uy, tao ra baya ta. Mao nay giingon wa tay mahimo, naa gyud na sila,” Acaso said. (Of course there is fear, we are human after all. But there’s nothing we can do, they are really there.)
Taking a deep breath and smiling hopefully, Acaso has one request to the “wandering spirits” at the Palace.
“Ayaw lang ‘tawn ko hadloka ‘migo,” said Acaso. (Please don’t scare me, friend.).