The 21st FAP Awards were held on March 29, 2003, at the University of the Philippines Theater and they honored the best Filipino films of the year 2002.
Lapu-Lapu won most of the awards with seven awards, including the Best Picture.[2] These results were heavily denounced because this film didn't even receive a single award in the 2002 Metro Manila Film Festival and in the other three major film awards: FAMAS Awards, Gawad Urian Awards and Star Awards. The pakikisama system was mostly blamed that these results occurred. This system happens when an academy member only votes for their friends and not on the basis of cinematic accomplishments and craftsmanship.[3][4][5][6] This is one of the triggering factors on why the voting process was reformulated to provide credible results.[7]