“Snubbed” by the jurors is how one entertainment website dismissed the non-inclusion of Aga Muhlach, Eugene Domingo and Gladys Reyes among the nominees in the acting categories at the 27 December awards night of the ongoing 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival.

The actors were most-likely not snubbed.

For background, Uninvited had a total of seven nominations, compared to the 15 (the highest) of The Kingdom, and one of Viva films’ Hold Me Close, as an automatic nomination of Best Picture for each of the 10 entries.

It is most likely that they didn’t make it to the Top six in terms of juror votes for the actors considered for a specific category. Only the top six are considered nominees. If there’s a tie for the sixth slot, both could be included as nominees. The tie may be broken by the chairman of the board if doing so is in the rules they have agreed upon before they started voting for the nominees. The jurors, though, may also agree among themselves not to break any ties in all the categories. Obviously judging to choose nominees and winners is a collegial act. 

We’re making this informed “guess” as to why actors with a track record of triumphs in award events “mysteriously” (suspiciously?) didn’t make it to the nominees’ list in specific categories based on our experience as a voting member of two showbiz reporters groups in the past that give out movie awards: the Entertainment Press Society (Enpress) and the Philippine Movie Press Club. 

Noel Ferrer, the MMFF publicist since 2016, recently posted in his Facebook the names of the 13 jurors who deliberated on the 10 MMFF 2024 entries, chose six nominees per category, tackled the merits and demerits of each portrayal, and then cast their votes. The final winner was, of course, the one with the most number of votes. All-in-all, it took almost eight hours of deliberations — from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on 27 December. 

Ferrer asserted on his Facebook on 28 December: “YOU MAY AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THEIR CHOICES [the caps are his — for emphasis] … but the integrity of each and every member of the Jury since we took charge in 2016, especially on this 50th Edition of the MMFF cannot be assailed.

“They have exhaustively deliberated and decided on the nominees and the winners from 9 a.m. to -4:30 p.m. yesterday… No leaks, definitely no cooking show… only the jury chair and the MMFF executive director (lawyer Don Artes) knew the results, not even I or any member of the Execom.

“Rest assured, there was due process and the judgment was fair and sound AND FINAL!!!”

The board of jurors was headed by the University of the Philippines’ Film Institute professor emeritus Nicanor Tiongson. Its members were Film Development Council of the Philippines’ chair Jose Javier “Joey” Reyes, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, actor John Arcilla, Film Academy of the Philippines’ director general Paolo Villaluna, award-winning screenwriter Roy Iglesias, producer Jesse Ejercito, entertainment journalist Marinel Cruz, cinematographer Videlle “Lee” Briones-Meilly, businessman Thomas Orbos, Metra Manila Development Council director Cesar Ona Jr., IAcademy president Racquel Wong and Robinsons Movieworld operations director Evylene Advincula. 

The names of the jurors were not announced during the awards night and their presence was also not acknowledged. Their identities were first revealed by Ferrer in his Facebook post.