Eva Darren, family accept FAMAS apology after ‘disrespectful, rude’ treatment of veteran actress during awards night
Eva Darren and her family have accepted the apology of the FAMAS 2024 organizers after dropping the veteran actress at last minute without explanation during the recently concluded awards night.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, May 28, Darren’s son Fernando De La Peña expressed his appreciation for the “overwhelming display of love and support” that Darren got after the incident. “Once again the people have spoken and proved that the keyboard is mightier than the sword,” he wrote. “My mom is one tough cookie, she is a battle-tested survivor of life’s arena. Ms. Eva Darren has found some comfort in the midst of a loving family which includes you all.”
He then recalled making sure to keep Darren’s FAMAS 1969 trophy “dustless and polished” when he was a child as it was “one of the few treasured possessions” that they have. “We revered FAMAS and everything it stands for. This is why what happened to my mother, in the eyes of our family, was incomprehensible, unexpected, unimaginable,” he explained.
According to De La Peña, what hurt his mom the most was “disappointing her apos who tagged along in the hopes of seeing grandma on stage.”
“We also know that Mr. Tirso Cruz III (Veteran actor loved by all, donor of many camping tents when I was a Boy Scout in grade school) and the PR Officer of FAMAS Mr. Renz Spangler (An incredible author and lover of classic cinema), have nothing to do with what happened and just the same, were casualties of someone’s questionable backstage judgment,” he noted.
De La Peña said that during the awards night, Darren was “seated in a table front and center adjacent to the stage” and that she was “rubbing elbows” with fellow actresses Divina Valencia and Marissa Delgado.
“For the reasons I stated above and on behalf of my mother, Ms. Eva Darren, our family accepts the olive branch that FAMAS has extended and only hope that future events would prove to be contrasting,” he wrote.
To conclude his statement, De La Peña "humbly, personally" recommended two things for the next FAMAS awards night: "Please stick to the script… and maybe a nice pair of eyeglasses for all in charge.”
On Monday, May 27, De La Peña aired his frustration over the FAMAS 2024 organizers after Darren was dropped last minute as presenter alongside veteran actor Tirso Cruz III. He said the public relations officer of the FAMAS production staff, who had been in constant communication with Darren before the event, "had absolutely no explanations to offer, just a thousand apologies."
"He confessed not knowing what happened and wasn’t sure why there was a last-minute change," De La Peña said of the FAMAS staff.
He described what happened to his mother as "rude," "disrespectful," "unethical," and "unprofessional to say the least."
Later in the day, FAMAS issued an official statement expressing its "sincerest apologies" to Darren and acknowledged that she was part of the program to present Special Citations with Cruz.
"But considering that we were running a live show, and due to myriads of people present in last night’s festivities, the production team was not able to locate Ms. Darren," they said. "This was indeed a setback in the live show and a negligence on the part of the team."
The organizers pointed out that "this was not intentional and purely a misjudgment."
FAMAS, the country's oldest existing film industry award-giving body and dubbed the local Oscars, recognizes achievements in Philippine cinema for a calendar year.
This year's big winner was the horror movie Mallari, which bagged seven awards including best picture and best actor for Piolo Pascual.