The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) issued a public apology to veteran actress Eva Darren after an alleged misunderstanding occurred during the awarding ceremony at the Manila Hotel on Sunday, May 26.

Eva was supposed to present an award with Tirso Cruz III on stage, but instead, Tirso went on stage with a young singer. The veteran star never made it to the stage during the event.

"Famas would like to express its sincerest apologies to Miss Eva Darren, an icon in the Philippine movie industry and a professional actress whose career is indubitably worthy of emulation. She was part of the program in last night’s Awards Night and was supposed to present Special Citations with Mr. Tirso Cruz III. But considering that we were running a live show, and due to myriads of people present in last night’s festivities, the production team could not locate Ms. Darren," Famas wrote. 

"This was indeed a setback in the live show and a negligence on the part of the team. Rest assured that this was not intentional and purely a misjudgment. The show is being streamed live and needs to be remedied right away. Hence, a replacement for Miss Darren was done at the last minute," it added. 

With this unexpected turn of events, the Famas team promises to reconcile with Eva.

"We are writing this with a heavy heart, especially after hearing that Miss Darren and her family were terribly hurt by this unintentional disregard for her presence and stature. We truly value Miss Darren and the rest of the veteran stars present last night, which is true to the Homecoming Concept of the show," it said. 

"But as there were brilliant moments to the most star-studded awards night in recent memory, there were also hitches and unfortunate developments in a live show such as this one. We understand that an apology alone cannot undo the damage this might have caused Miss Darren, but we are committed to making amends and rebuilding her trust by a personal visit of the FAMAS Board to honor her stature, if she allows it," the post ended. 

The apology was issued in response to Eva's son, Fernando de la Pena, criticizing the award-giving body for the incident.

According to Fernando's post, his mother tried to memorize the script, braved the terrible weather that day, and even paid for additional seats for her grandsons.

However, Eva's efforts were in vain, as she was unable to appear on stage during the awards ceremony.

"A couple of months ago, she received a notice of invitation for the Famas awards night. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Famas (Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards) is the equivalent of the USA’s Oscar Awards. She was also given a script to go over and memorize as an awards presenter coupled with another veteran actor, Mr. Tirso Cruz III," he said. 

"Mom was excited, bought the best dress and pair of heels she could afford and topped that with a nice package of hair and make up for the gala. During the event, she brought along three of her very proud grandkids. With a price tag of P5,000 ($90) per plate for four people, needless to say, it was not a cheap evening. It was all worth it though. After all, the last time she was on stage during a Famas awards night was back in 1969 when she received the coveted 'Best Supporting Actress Award' for her role in the movie ANG PULUBI (The Beggar) opposite legendary actress Charito Solis," the post added. 

"My mother never went on the stage. The PR officer of Famas who had been in constant communication with my mother prior to 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. My mom said 'it’s okay' but decided to leave nonetheless. I couldn’t blame her. Staying around was just rubbing salt on her Famas-inflicted wounds," the post said.

At the end of Fernando's post, he insisted on taking the incident to legal action, but his sister told him not to do so.