The structure was designed by architect Froilan Hong where its edifice is supported on more than nine hundred piles[1] which reaches to the bed-rock about 120 feet below.

According to former CCP president Baltazar N. Endriga, architect Froilan Hong said that only seven died in the accident and that all of them "were retrieved and given the proper rites befitting the dead.

"[19] After the tragedy Prime Minister Cesar Virata disapproved a $5 million[20] subsidy which was originally intended for the film festival.

A total of 17 movies competed in the festival [22] namely 36 Chowringhee Lane (India), Body Heat (USA), Gallipoli (Australia), Growing up (Line Iida) (Norway), Harry Tracy-Desperado (Canada), La Femme d'à côté (France), Lola (Germany), Los Viernes de la Eternidad (Argentina), Majstori, Majstori!

(Yugoslavia), No Charges Filed (Egypt), Smash Palace (New Zealand), Take It All (Jetz Und Alles) (West Germany), The Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov (USSR), The French Lieutenant's Woman (Great Britain), There Was A War When I Was A Child (Japan), Vabank (Poland) and Wasted Lives (Hungary).

After the 1990 earthquake[23] that hit Manila and the rest of Luzon, the center was abandoned,[24] following reports of structural damage to load-bearing beams on the west side of the building.

In 2001, then CCP President Armita Rufino announced a full rehabilitation program for the deteriorating Film Center.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the film center's architect, Hong, were part of the strategic planning session on structure's renovation.

In 2009, the Philippine Senate[13] considered moving from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) building to the Film Center located only a few meters away.

[31] The Manila Film Center is said by believers to be haunted due to the 1981 accident that took place during the construction of the structure.

[6] The hauntings in relation to the tragedy were discussed in a 2006 episode of GMA Network's i-Witness [32] and a 1991 Halloween Special of ABS-CBN's Magandang Gabi... Bayan.

In the 2010 Filipino film The Red Shoes, part of the plot hinges on the supposed death of the father of the main character, Lucas, played by Marvin Agustin, who was supposed to have been among the 169 workers buried alive in the accident at the construction of the Manila Film Center.

The collapse's reference in the musical is somewhat erroneous, as the scene in question takes place in 1969, years before the incident's actual occurrence in 1981 while Aquino was in exile in America.

It heads to 1999 when the government's plan to build an IMAX theater in the structure is handed to Department of Tourism coordinator named Anne Marie "Annie" Francisco.

Marcelo lead the group in their mission only to discover too late that an evil presence took sanctuary inside the building long ago and fed on the anger and misery of the victims' souls.

Both the novel and movie are loosely based on and inspired by the 1981 incident and the late 1990s Spirit Questors' visit to the place.