Manila Philippines — Celebrating the greatest of Philippine cinema, the 72nd Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards holds a star-studded evening.
The yearly awards ceremony, which took place on Sunday night at The Manila Hotel, honored outstanding performance and narrative in motion picture.
But after a controversy over veteran actress Eva Darren—a beloved icon in the Philippine film industry—the FAMAS Awards Night unexpectedly took a different turn when she was unable to present special honors with actor Tirso Cruz III as planned.
FAMAS publicly apologized to Darren for the oversight and trouble created as a result of the incident.
Fernando de la Pena, Darren’s son, posted a message in which he expressed his mother’s eagerness and planning for the occasion. This prompted the apologies.
FAMAS blamed her absence on the difficulties of the live broadcast and the event’s hectic atmosphere, which made it difficult for the production team to find her in time for her scheduled presentation.
FAMAS acknowledged the unplanned nature of Darren’s absence and expressed great regret in a statement regarding the incident.
The organization underlined that the lapse was caused by the unforeseen circumstances of a live show that needed to be resolved right away rather than being an intentional oversight.