CLARK FREEPORT – The Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. has finally been blessed by a priest after “a surge in paranormal occurrences” in the building.
Embassy First Secretary and Consul Elmer Cato told Punto, however, that the hauntings have persisted at least in his office on Basement Level II of the embassy. Cato, who is also embassy spokesperson, initially posted in his Facebook account about the account of a Latina cleaning lady he identifi ed only as Lupe in the embassy.
“A few weeks after the surge in paranormal occurrences at 1600 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., our cleaning lady, Lupe, encountered her for the first time at Basement Level II,” Cato wrote in his post,
referring to a “white lady” frequently seen by embassy staff over the years.
Cato quoted Lupe as actually having talked to one of the embassy ghosts whom she had initially thought to be a living member of the embassy staff. “She (white lady) was Filipina and introduced herself (to Lupe) as Corazon Alvarado. She told Lupe not to be afraid. She said she meant no harm and was actually sent down from heaven
to guard the building and its occupants,” Cato said.
He said the white lady “told Lupe she and several others stay most of the time at Basement Levels I and II but venture to the upper floors when the occupants have left for the day.” Cato said that “at one point, she (white lady) spoke in Tagalog but later apologized and with a laugh said she forgot that Lupe was from Latin America.”
Lupe claimed that Corazon had asked that the embassy building be blessed by a priest, as the building had never been blessed yet. Cato said the embassy building was indeed blessed recently. “The priest said Mass and blessed the entire building.
He went from office to office, floor by floor. However, there was one room that the priest was not able to bless because the officer occupying it was away and his room was locked. It was my room,” he noted.
Cato said the hauntings seemed to have dissipated in the embassy since the blessing, except in his room. “I don’t know whether it’s still Corazon manifesting herself there,” he said.
In the history of Catholicism, some holy persons are known to have conversed with ghosts during their earthly lives. These include St. Padre Pio and Maria Simma of Austria who died in 2004. The ghosts they encountered
often sought for Masses and prayers for their deliverance from Purgatory.
