Coffee date guy sorry for past wrongdoings, denies stalking Ella Cruz

Businessman Xian Gaza’s fame from his extravagant billboard coffee date invite to actress Erich Gonzales may seem to be short-lived, due to the rise of scamming allegations against him. He answered the accusations in detail and asked for forgiveness.

Among those who surfaced online to speak up about his alleged scamming scheme is netizen Diwanie Catapang.

In a series of Twitter posts last July 3, Catapang wrote some grave accusations on Gaza. She talked about a supposed scam project Gaza hired her for, intended for the victims of typhoon Yolanda called the “Haiyan Shirt Project.”

She said she agreed to do it “for a cause” and worked hard for the said project.

She also spoke about how she initially thought of Gaza as generous, after he offered her to stay at the expensive headquarters, supposedly rented for the project’s use.

Fueled by the desire to help typhoon survivors, coupled with the promise of absolute transparency regarding the project, Catapang said she set money matters aside. To her dismay, she claims she has not yet received an answer from Gaza about whether the proceeds have been received by its supposed recipients.

Catapang also revealed that since she spoke up, she has been receiving “scam” complaints involving Gaza.

Not long after, Gaza came out to answer Catapang’s claims via a lengthy Facebook post. He stood firm that the “Haiyan Shirt Project” he spearheaded in 2015 was a “legitimate project.” But Gaza claims it did not push through because the funding supposedly promised to him for the project’s operations did not materialize, allegedly even causing him to shell out P300,000 for capital.

Further, Gaza said the initial 2,000 shirts produced in Davao City were not sold and ended up being distributed to different charitable institutions and Christmas charity programs.

“Wala akong kinita maski ni isang kusing (I did not earn a single cent) and even lost 300K Pesos on that project plus the burden of paying 10K Pesos every month until now to the company that I partnered with to [produce] the 2000 Haiyan Shirts in Davao City,” he said in his recent Facebook post.

Gaza also revealed past financial issues.

He narrated about a P200,000 fund misuse. The money was supposedly meant for an overseas project but was instead used to cover up the financial backlogs of a company he co-owns with another partner. With finances solely under his shoulders, he claims to have lost over P1.7 million for carrying the budget problems alone, and eventually realized it was a “bad investment.” He claims to have declared “bankruptcy” and separated from his business partner “with no formal closure to this day.”

He also mentioned a particular Jessica Cruz with whom he had a “Toyota Fortuner transaction.” He said: “I personally pressured myself to take the unit” because he wanted to “impress,” even if he did not have the need for one. The car was supposedly returned.

He also denied stalking actress-dancer Ella Cruz, negating the claim of the mother of the actress.

“Lastly, hindi po ako isang stalker ni Ella Cruz.” (I am not a stalker of Ella Cruz.)

Proving this, he posted photos of him with Cruz showing the two once hung out. He also previously posted videos that are no longer available as of this writing.

At the end of his statement, he acknowledged that he has done wrong to a lot of people in the past and asked for their forgiveness. He also pleaded to the public not to gang up on him with judgments. JB

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