MANILA, Philippines — Actress-host Charo Santos-Concio was showered with praise online for locating veteran actress Eva Darren during the recent Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards.
The award-giving body received flak for replacing Eva with singer Sheena Palad during the Special Citations presentation with another veteran actor, Tirso Cruz III.
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FAMAS explained in an apology that it could not locate Eva in time and because the awarding ceremony was being streamed live, Sheena was brought in as a last-minute replacement.
Eva's family, through her son Fernando de la Pena, accepted FAMAS' apology, though he pointed out that his mother, Eva, was seated in a table front and center adjacent to the stage.
Some individuals even called for FAMAS to reimburse Eva for her expenses at the event, which reportedly cost P5,000 per person. The veteran star was accompanied by three individuals.
A few days after the incident, Charo shared on social media some photos from that evening where she mingled with the likes of Eva, Pilar Pilapil, Marissa Delgado, Divina Valencia, Nova Villa and Dante Rivero.
"An exchange of kamustahans and hugs with my dear friends and co-actors in FAMAS," Charo wrote as the post's caption.
Internet users were quick to point out that Charo managed to find Eva when FAMAS could not, leaving comments that both praised Charo and took a dig at the decades-old award-giving body.
"Buti pa si Madam Charo natagpuan si Madam Eva," said one user, while another commented, "Everyone saw Eva Darren except [the] FAMAS organization."
Eva appeared in several episodes of "Maalaala Mo Kaya," the long-running anthology series that Charo hosted for 30 years.
Charo also snapped photos with Christopher de Leon, Coco Martin, Dingdong Dantes and Piolo Pascual.
Piolo's film "Mallari" was the big winner as it took home six awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Piolo, jointly won with Alfred Vargas for "Pieta."
RELATED: 'Reimburse Eva Darren': Actors, entertainment pundits call for justice beyond apology from FAMAS