The Luna Awards are awards given annually by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) to recognize the outstanding achievements of the Filipino film industry. The first awards were presented in 1983 in Pasay. It is considered to be the Philippine counterpart of the Oscars. It used to be known as the FAP Awards until in 2005 when it got its current name. Since 2007, the Academy started holding simple awards ceremonies due to lack of government funding and reduction of its share from MMFF earnings. This also caused some delays for ceremony scheduling. History In 1981, the Executive Order 640-A was passed by then President Ferdinand Marcos. The order mandated that the Film Academy of the Philippines should recognize outstanding film achievements annually. The first awards was presented on April 27, 1983, in Manila Film Center which gave awards to the best films of 1982. It was known as the Film Academy of the Philippines Awards, shortened as FAP Awards. In 2005, FAP held a naming contest to give a unique name for the awards and Luna was chosen. The awards for 2009 films (28th Luna Awards) were not given due to budget constraints. The academy still count it as part of the numbering pattern of the awards even though it was not held. Statuette In 2005, Luna was chosen as the new name for the awards from the 221 names submitted to the contest. Romeo Cando and Baltazar dela Cruz won the prize of ₱5000 for naming it. The word "Luna" means moon in different languages. Luna is also the Roman goddess of moon. It is also can be reflected in the idiom "shoot for the moon" which means to aspire for the seemingly unreachable because winning a Luna Award is something difficult to achieve. Indirectly, the choice of Luna is also a way to pay homage to Juan Luna. A painting which was made by Luna inspired production designer Angel "Ulay" Tantoco in making the design of this statuette in 1981. Luna is a long-haired woman with a flowing dress which represents the muse of arts. She holds a wreath and stands on twelve circular steps that represent all of the guilds of the academy. She is made of aluminum cast and weighs four kilograms. Voting process For a film to eligible, it should be released and have a commercial run for at least three days from