FILIPINO ACADEMY OF MOVIE ARTS AND SCIENCES

THE HISTORY OF THE ACADEMY

The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences is the oldest film award-giving body in Asia. It
was instituted on May 31, 1953 by a group of writers: Atty. Flavio G. Macaso (who became the first
president of FAMAS), future FAMAS president Vicente Generoso, future FAMAS winner Mario Mijares
Lopez, Paulo Dizon, Amado Yasoma and Eddie Infante at a meeting at Far Eastern University in Manila. It
was a move that would give the Philippines a counterpart of the United States' Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. The original name of the Academy was Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences of the Philippines; however, the United States' AMPAS protested on the use of its name on a
similar organization. Movie legend Jaime de la Rosa suggested the name "fame" for the award; however,
movie legend Rosa Rosal insisted that the name of the award should be in Filipino. Thus, "fame" was
roughly translated into Filipino as "famas", and the famous acronym FAMAS was formed. To make an
Oscar statuette equivalent, Rosa Rosal posed for the easily recognizable and prestigious FAMAS Award
of Merit statuette designed by Manuel Barreiro.

The FAMAS replaced Manila Times Publishing Co.'s Maria Clara Awards as the sole award-giving
body in film in the Philippines, which was established in 1950 (see the Maria Clara Awards page to see
its history). On its first meeting it has elected the following officers: Atty. Flavio G Macaso, President;
Vicente Generoso, Vice-President; Delfin Ferrer Gamboa, Secretary; Lynn Strait, Treasurer; and Vivencio
Isaac, Public Relations Officer. Aside from these officers, a Board of Regents (precursor of today's Board
of Directors) was also elected. The Board of Regents represented the big studios and production
companies of the day. The Regents were Julio Esteban Anguita of Lebran International, Gerardo de Leon
of Premiere Productions, Fred Montilla of Sampaguita Pictures, Rosa Rosal of LVN Pictures, as well as
representatives of independent production companies such as Ben Perez, Eddie Romero, Ariston Avelino
and Pedro Santos. The Board of Regents were the studio's eyes on the new organization. For the next
ten years, the Board of Regents would have the unsopken agreement that each of the major FAMAS
Awards would go to every one of the major studios, an agreement that would have a profound effect on
the 9th FAMAS Awards for the films of 1960.

The FAMAS was the sole award-giving body for film in the Philippines from 1952 until 1976, when
the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP) formed the Gawad URIAN (FAMAS was also contested by the
Manila Film Festival, established in the 1960s, but a film festival cannot be considered as a major award-
giving body). From 1952 to 1976, FAMAS alone has awarded the most foremost performers and
craftsmen of Filipino films, from screen legend Rosa Rosal to master director Gerardo de Leon. Winning
a FAMAS Award became the target obsession for many film craftsmen, for it was, after all, the
Philippines' counterpart of the Oscars. The awards itself, then held mostly in the Manila Hotel, was the
biggest annual event in the Philippine movie industry.
 In 1960, Sampaguita Pictures and Vera-Perez Productions withdrew their participation from the
Academy's Board of Regents because the agreement between producers on who receives the FAMAS
Awards was not followed. The unspoken agreement was that each of the Big Four studios (LVN Pictures,
Sampaguita Pictures, Premiere Productions and Lebran International) would receive the top awards. For
example, if the Best Picture goes to one studio, the acting awards should go the other three studios and
the directing award should go to another studio. The 9th FAMAS Awards (1960), nevertheless, failed to
honor Sampaguita Pictures with an award, so Sampaguita Pictures and its sister company Vera-Perez
Productions withdrew from the Academy. In addition, Sampaguita's mogul, Dr. Jose Perez, returned all
of the FAMAS Awards that the studio have won so far by placing them on public view in his Vera-Perez
Gardens. Other movie studios also withdrew from the Academy's Board of Regents, though they did not
return their statuettes. This almost spelled the death of the FAMAS, nevertheless, the reelection of Atty.
Macaso as President revived the organization. In 1961, due to this move by the movie studios, the
FAMAS revamped its membership rules and removed studio representation membership from the Board
of Regents, which abolished the Board itself. The Regents were replaced by the Board of Directors that
were staffed by FAMAS members.

In 1973, the FAMAS was rocked by a terrible scandal. It awarded the first tie in the lead
categories in the history of Philippine cinema. Before this, the only recorded tie was in 1968, when Tito
Arevalo and Tony Maiquez shared the Best Musical Score honors. The tie was in the Best Actress
category, with both Boots Anson-Roa and Vilma Santos sharing the honors. Because a tie in the lead
categories was unheard of, the public dissented the vote. Therefore, for the next years, the FAMAS
invited film critics to be members of its nominating and awarding committee. These critics left the
FAMAS in 1976 to form MPP and subsequently, the Gawad Urian (Urian Award), named after the
Tagalog word for gold standard.

In 1981, the FAMAS' monicker, "the Philippines' counterpart of the Oscars," was finally rescinded
by the government when it established the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) under Executive Order
No. 640-A. The FAP was patterned after the AMPAS of the United States. The formation of the FAP
almost spelled the last days of FAMAS because according to the FAMAS charter, the FAMAS will
continue to hand out awards until the industry becomes "united and mature." The creation of the FAP
fulfilled those requirements. Also, there was a dispute on the word "Academy" that was employed by
both organizations. Since the FAP Awards and the FAMAS Awards cannot be named "Academy Awards"
at the same time, the FAP Board of Governors then decided to have three options regarding the case
with FAMAS, namely 1) to allow FAMAS to continue on with awarding provided that they replace the
word "Academy" in FAMAS with the word "Award" (to become "Filipino Award of Movie Arts and
Sciences"), 2) for FAMAS to wholly turn over the functions of award-giving to FAP and 3) to co-exist. The
resolution asking FAMAS to hold its last awards in 1982 was forwarded by FAMAS Award-winner Joseph
Estrada (who was also a proponent of the FAP), to Ros Olgado, the FAMAS President at that time.
Olgado appeared in the FAP meeting, and he promised the Board of Governors that FAMAS will turn
over its functions to the FAP. He also asked the FAP to allow them to hold its last Academy Awards. In
addition to these, FAP also wanted to have a hand in future FAMAS selections. FAMAS agreed,
nevertheless, there was an obvious voting rights stalemate as FAP members outnumbered FAMAS
members, which led to further re-negotiation. FAMAS then called a general membership meeting and it
saved the award-giving body. FAMAS decided that it will not turn over its award-giving rites to FAP and
that it will continue as a separate, independent award-giving body.

On April 27, 1983, the FAP held its 1st Film Academy Awards night at the Manila Film Center
while FAMAS went ahead with its 31st Annual Awards in May 28, 1983 at the Film Center. Both
organizations retained the word "Academy" in their acronyms.

In addition, around this time up until the 90s, other award-giving bodies have sprung up over the
years: among the most notable are the the Catholic Mass Media Awards of the Catholic Church (in
1978), Star Awards for Movies of the Philippine Movie Press Club in 1985, the Young Critics' Circle
Awards of the Film Desk Critics' Circle of the University of the Philippines (in 1990), the Gawad Pasado of
the Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro, and recently, the Golden Screen Awards of the
Entertainment Press (in 2003).

In 2002, the FAMAS celebrated its golden jubilee with the longest FAMAS Awards telecast yet.
The awards night, which was held at the FAMAS Awards' original home, Manila Hotel, held on graciously
and extravagantly from 9 PM to 3 AM.

In 2003, the FAMAS was rocked by yet another terrible scandal. The Best Actress Award of the
51st FAMAS Awards went to Aleck Bovick for a role in a bold movie, Tampisaw, much to the chagrin of
some people in the industry. Many people, including FAMAS winner Amalia Fuentes, felt that FAMAS
had killed itself when it gave a FAMAS to Bovick. Others have alleged that Bovick could have paid FAMAS
for the Award. In Bovick's speech, she thanked a certain lawyer, which further prompted suspicion
within the industry. Nevertheless, FAMAS did its own cleansing. FAMAS President Art Padua
restructured the FAMAS by inviting more Palanca Award-winners (Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines) to the
Academy and dismissing members who have gone AWOL.

On May 6, 2003, due to non-compliance with reportorial requirements, the corporate charter of
the FAMAS was revoked by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This move of the SEC gave FAMAS
three years to wind-up its activities. This move also prohibited the staging of an awards night, which is
the major activity of the FAMAS. Nevertheless, under the presidency of Art Padua, the FAMAS was able
to stage the 52nd and 53rd FAMAS Awards.

For the 53rd FAMAS Awards (2004) on June 26, 2005, FAMAS set another trend. It partnered with
the Philippines' largest television network, ABS-CBN Channel 2 for the production of the annual awards
night. ABS-CBN held the broadcasting rights to the awards night telecast. As a result, the 53rd FAMAS
Awards became the first awards night in the Philippines to be telecast all over the world, since ABS-CBN
also aired the awards through one of its international satellite stations, Pinoy Central TV.

In 2004, fifteen new members of the FAMAS were allowed by FAMAS president Art Padua to vote
on the annual elections. This was questioned by some members of the FAMAS, some of which are
lifetime members of the corporation, who then walked out of the election. FAMAS president Art Padua
considered this as a resignation from the corporation, which sparked further unrest in the corporation.

On June 25, 2005, Col. Jimmy Tiu was elected unanimously by 34 of the 53 members of the
FAMAS. Nevertheless, Art Padua did not acknowledge the results of the voting, and he considered the
elected officers as the "FAMAS breakaway group" and resigned from the Academy. This leadership crisis
would have a tremendous effect on the 54th FAMAS Awards.

In April 2006, the FAMAS, as represented by Art Padua, released the Official Nominees and on
the next months had released the date and venue of the awards. On July 15, 2006, the day of the set
awards night, a 72-hour temporary restraining order was issued by Judge Felixberto Olalia of Manila
against Art Padua and his set of officers from holding the 54th FAMAS Awards night. The ruling favored
Col. Jimmy Tiu, whose group Art Padua called as the breakaway group. The order was issued because, as
presented by Col. Tiu, FAMAS ceased to exist as an registered organization of the Securities and
Exchange Commission on May 26, 2003. As a SEC non-registered organization, all the FAMAS could do
was to hold "winding-up activities" which does not include an awards night. This led to the
postponement of the 54th FAMAS Awards night.

In order to go around the SEC restriction of holding the FAMAS Awards, the FAMAS headed by
Tiu decided to resurrect the Maria Clara Awards in order to continue the long legacy of the still-
belaguered FAMAS and to continue awarding Filipino motion picture excellence. In holding the Maria
Claras instead of the FAMAS, the FAMAS indeed does not hold its primary and only function, which is
the holding of an awards night, which is not therefore a violation of the SEC ruling. The Maria Clara
Awards were held on October 13, 2006 in a simple and humble event at Golden Fortune Restaurant in
Manila. In retrospect, the FAMAS would not be awarded until the leadership crisis and the registration
revocation issues of the corporation are not resolved.

Nevertheless, the group of Art Padua still held the 54th FAMAS Awards on November 12, 2006
at the Main Hall of the National Broadcasting Network, despite the SEC ruling against holding the
organization's main function, which is holding the awards night. The awards night set a trend because it
is the first awards night in Philippine history to be shown as a feature of another TV program (Pilipinas,
Ngayon Na of Channel 4) instead of being a television special.
 In 2007, just right before the 55th FAMAS Awards, the Supreme Court of the Philippines finally
resolved the leadership crisis of FAMAS and handed the leadership to Art Padua, who is currently the
longest-reigning president in the history of the Academy. An appeal to the Court of Appeals by Col. Tiu is
still pending though.