I came to Manila Hotel’s Fiesta Pavilion at past 3 p.m. Sunday, almost one hour ahead of the official start of registration.  

As I entered the venue, there were only a few persons and a rehearsal was ongoing to perfect the performance. I even saw FAMAS president Francia “Cheche” Conrado standing and attending to some details. 

Minutes later, I saw Renz Spangler, FAMAS public relations officer, as he welcomed me with open arms. 

The ushers were being briefed for the last time as a representative from the office of Sen. Bong Revilla informed Renz that it would be Congresswoman Lani Revilla who would represent the senator as he was still recuperating from a recent tendon surgery. 

I took the opportunity to look into each table of the guests in the night’s award ceremony. At Table 1, situated on the left side of the stage center, it would be the group of  Lani Revilla, Lala Sotto, Robin Padilla and  Alfred Vargas, among others. As for the veteran stars like seniors  Eva Darren, Divina Valencia and Marissa Delgado, their table was just near the stage. 

Tables for members of the FAMAS board were adjacent to the stage center while those in the business sector were in the rightmost sides of the stage. 

Then tables for the films nominated for the FAMAS this year were spread on both left and right sides of the hall.

The Philippine Movie Press Club media table was situated on Table 56 near the sound system technical team, at the rightmost part adjacent to the hall’s entrance. 

Our location was very fitting for we could see who was coming to the venue.

One of the earliest iconic stars inside the reception hall was veteran actress Eva Darren with her grandkids. She was assisted by Spangler to their seats. Darren began appearing in movies during the early 1960s and she won the FAMAS Award for best supporting actress for the film Ang Pulubi (1969) starring Charito Solis. 

She was followed by Pilar Padilla, the oldest living postwar period actress (she will turn 98 years old on 20 September) from the famous Padilla dynasty of high-caliber actors and actresses in the history of Philippine cinema. I assisted Spangler to bring Padilla to her seat.

Then other veteran actors and actresses came in. Iconic director Elwood Perez, a fellow Kapampangan, greeted me twice.

An all-male group, FORTEnors started to entertain those in the audience as the giving of Prestige Award had begun. Dr. Nona S. Ricafort made a keynote speech, followed by the message of FAMAS president Francia “Cheche” Conrado.

I was seated beside Mamita Flores, organizer of Dangal ng Lahing Filipino Award 2024, who is a big fan of Eva Darren as she left her table and took a photo of Ms. Darren with excitement.