FDCP Chair Diño and FDCP Executive Director David Fabros with SGV & Co. Philippines Partner Villacorte and his team

Hailed as one of the country's most prestigious award-giving bodies and regarded as the Philippine counterpart to the Academy Awards, the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) Luna Awards has continued to recognize the best talents in the film industry this year via its reputable peer voting process. This was boosted by the partnership of FAP and Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), with SGV & Co. as the official tabulator of the 37th FAP Luna Awards.

FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño talked about the voting process during the 37th FAP Luna Awards Night on November 30 at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. “This is the first time for FDCP to facilitate the voting system of Luna. It was certainly a challenging task to manage the Electoral College which was made up of members from the film industry voting for the 12 award categories. That’s why we are grateful for the assistance and support of the auditing firm of SGV & Co. Philippines to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and transparency of the process,” she said.

SGV & Co., which stands for SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company, is the largest professional services firm in the Philippines covering assurance, tax, advisory, and transaction advisory services since 1946. David Fabros, FAP Luna Awards Secretariat and Philippine Film Export Service Office (PFESO) Executive Director of FDCP, added, “We’re very happy because they lent their expertise to this event. SGV worked extra hours just to accommodate us and make sure we delivered awards rightfully. We look forward to more partnerships with them.”

The FAP Luna Awards Electoral College is composed of three juror bodies: Technical Committee on Citing, Nominators, and Voters. The Citers chose the shortlisted films, the Nominators selected the nominations, and the Voters picked the winners. Each category was voted on by members of that category, meaning only directors cited, nominated, and voted for the Best Director category. The same applies for the rest of the categories. 

This 37-year-old voting system, dubbed as “by the peers and for the peers,” has elevated Luna to be regarded as the Philippine counterpart to the Oscars. On its 37th edition, Luna's voting process was enhanced because all Voters this year were winners or nominees of the FAP Luna Awards or other prestigious award-giving bodies like the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards, Gawad Urian Awards, the EDDYs, and the like.

Director and writer Jose Javier Reyes

The members of the 37th FAP Luna Awards Electoral College are Jade Castro, Paul Soriano, Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, Jose Javier Reyes, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Laurice Guillen, Mark Meily, Bibeth Orteza, Monster Jimenez, Perry de Guzman, Raquel Villavicencio, Clodualdo del Mundo, Roy Iglesias, Honelyn Joy Alipio, Jay Abello, Mackie Galvez, Topel Lee, Marissa Floirendo, Lee Briones-Meily, Odyssey Flores, Leo Abaya, Gerry Santos, Digo Ricio, Manny Morfe, Popo Diaz, Edgar Martin Littaua, Dave Hukom, Hannah Espia, John Anthony Wong, Jess Navarro, Manet Dayrit, Tara Illenberger, Mikoy Morales, Teresa Barozzo, Rey Del Poso, Jaime Fabregas, Vehnee Saturno, Lutgardo Labad, Stephen Lopez, Sheka Ong, Aurel C. Bilbao, Ditoy Aguila, Marc Laccay, Lamberto Casas, Jr., and Aian Louie Caro.

Completing this year’s roster of FAP Luna Awards Electoral College members are JC Santos, Paolo Ballesteros, Richard Quan, Rez Cortez, Carlo Maceda, Jeffrey Santos, Ricky Davao, Rafael “Bembol” Roco, Tommy Abuel, Raymond Bagatsing, Allen Dizon, Ice Seguerra, Angeli Bayani, Angel Aquino, Althea Vega, Madlen Nicolas, Suzette Ranillo, Liza Diño, Lorna Tolentino, Elizabeth Oropesa, Sue Prado, Glydel Mercado, Therese Malvar, Iza Calzado, Christine Dayrit, Chris Millado, Poppert Bernadas, Linda Aspiras, Ana Micaela Fortin, Irene Hamoyu, Saiya Hose Desembrana, and Nam Shekina Desembrana.

Bembol Roco and Ricky Davao. Photo by David Fabros

The identities of the Electoral College members were only made known more than a month after the FP Luna Awards Night. “We wanted to keep it confidential because this is an awards event that prides itself with being completely peer-based and walang lobbying at walang palakasan. We really elected jurors from different backgrounds. May bata, may matanda, may indie, may mainstream. So magkakahalo iyan. They came from everywhere because we wanted a holistic picture of what really is considered excellent for these people from the categories," explained Fabros.

However, gathering such a magnificent roster of Electoral College members proved to be difficult. “Medyo matagal ang kailangang guguling time para mabuo ang lahat ng citings, nominations, at votes in a given period of time,” Fabros noted. Despite the difficulties, the Luna Awards Secretariat assured that only the people in the profession of the category voted for such category, which is the most important thing to uphold in the voting process. 

With the enhanced voting process coupled with the expertise from SGV & Co., FAP and FDCP did carry on in upholding the integrity of the FAP Luna Awards. The 2019 Awardees are Best Motion Picture "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral" (TBA Studios and Globe Studios), Best Director Chito Roño of "Signal Rock," Best Actress Glaiza de Castro of "Liway," Best Actor Daniel Padilla of "The Hows of Us," Best Supporting Actress Daria Ramirez of "Signal Rock," and Best Supporting Actor Arjo Atayde of “Buy Bust.”

Best Supporting Actress Daria Ramirez

"Liway" director and screenwriter Kip Oebanda with the Best Screenplay trophy

The others who triumphed at the 2019 FAP Luna Awards Night were Zig Dulay and Kip Oebanda of "Liway" for Best Screenplay, Neil Daza of "Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus" for Best Cinematography, Chuck Gutierrez of "Liway" for Best Editing, Jerrold Tarog of "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral" for Best Musical Score, Albert Michael Idioma and Alex Tomboc of "Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral" for Best Sound, and Maolen Fadul of "Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus" for Best Production Design. The Special Awardees of the night, meanwhile, were voted for by the FAP Board of Governors. Regal Entertainment, Inc. matriarch Lily Monteverde received the Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) Lifetime Achievement Award, veteran actress and 2019 FAP Luna Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominee Nova Villa was given the Manuel de Leon Award for Exemplary Achievement, and the late directors Wenn Deramas and Soxie Topacio were posthumously honored with the Lamberto Avellana Memorial Award.