Ivana Alawi, Raffy Tulfo. Images: Instagram/@ivanaalawi, Facebook/Raffy Tulfo in Action
Days after filing a complaint for estafa against her former business partners, Ivana Alawi appeared in a Feb. 21 episode of the show “Raffy Tulfo in Action” to express her dismay toward her former business partners who were supposedly the manufacturer of her beauty brand.
Alawi, along with fellow victims Vera Joy and Jonah Sison Ramos, aired their complaints against a certain Ronelle Jay Evangelista and another Charles Ariza, who they referred to as their former business partners.
The “Partners in Crime” star revealed that she had filed an estafa case against her former business partners after they had allegedly failed to return the money that would be used to manufacture the products for her brand.
“We filed a case kasi ‘yung pera, hindi pa nila binabalik because unang-una, nagpa-formulate kami and hindi nila magawa yung formulation na exclusive sa amin and ‘di rin naman pala nila kaya ‘yung mga premium ingredients,” Alawi said, noting that she sought the help of a lawyer in hopes of getting her money back.
(We filed a case because they haven’t returned the money. First of all, we asked them to create a formulation for products that are exclusive to the brand. However, it turns out that they weren’t able to comply with our requests, especially when it comes to getting the premium ingredients.)
“We asked them kasi last year pa na ibalik na lang ‘yung pera kasi they cannot do what we want. Hindi nila maibigay yung magandang formula, hindi rin nila maibigay na exclusive. So sabi ko, ‘We’re not going to work [this] out so i-refund na lang and okay na.’ Kasi ako Sir Raffy, ayoko talaga ng mga issue issue o mag-kaso ng tao,” she added.
(Since last year, we’ve been asking them to return the money since they could not do what we want. They couldn’t provide the right formula and ensure the exclusivity of our products. So I said, ‘We’re not going to work [this] out, so just refund [our money], and that would be already okay. Because Sir Raffy, I really don’t want issues like this or to bring a case against other people.)
Initially, the actress-vlogger was not planning to go public with her sentiments against Evangelista and Ariza. However, she said she decided to bring the issue out in the open after discovering that they had allegedly fooled other people.
“Nakakaawa at nalulungkot ako na marami pala silang niloloko. So, modus na pala nila ‘yan to get money from people,” she said, adding that her debacle with her former business partners has been going on since last year. “Sa ngayon, tatlo ang lumapit sa akin after kong mag-file ng case tapos hindi lang pala thousands, millions na pala ang halaga ng mga niloloko nila.”
“Sabi ko, ‘i-refund na lang para tapos na.’ Ayaw nilang i-refund. Ayaw talaga nila, hindi sila nagbibigay ng reason… Na-file na po namin ng lawyer ko ‘yung kaso kasi ang sa akin lang, ang ayoko lang, ay ‘yung may maloloko pa po sila,” Alawi added.
(It’s a pity and I feel sad that they have fooled a lot of people. So maybe, it’s their way of getting money from other people. As of now, three people have approached me after I filed a case, and I found out that they’ve taken not only thousands but millions of money from other people. I said, “Just refund the money so this can be over.” They don’t want to give my money back. They really don’t want, [and] they don’t give any reason. My lawyer and I already filed a case because I don’t want them to fool more people.)
Apart from her self-titled YouTube channel, Alawi starred in the 48th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) film entry “Partners in Crime” with Vice Ganda, where she was nominated for Best Actress.
The actress-vlogger also starred as the lead in the 2022 teleserye “A Family Affair” with Gerald Anderson, Sam Milby, Jameson Blake and Jake Ejercito. /ra