Do we like Ivana Alawi?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A good public-service record and nothing hateful turned up, held back by a gambling-linked promo and a pile of gossip she has denied.
Ivana Alawi was born Mariam Al-Alawi in 1996 to a Filipino mother and a Moroccan father, and grew up in Bahrain. She tried her luck on GMA's StarStruck in 2015, made the top 22, and then worked her way through TV roles and a 2019 film debut.
The real break came when she launched her YouTube channel in 2019. She went on to become the most-subscribed Filipino celebrity on the platform, and Google named her a top creator in the Philippines two years running. She also built a skincare line, Ivana Skin, and says she runs her content largely on her own.
On the harm test, we found nothing from her on LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet, good or bad, and nothing on vaccines or conspiracy theories. She has said in the past that she isn't joining politics. The one real mark is the July 2026 giveaway, which got people to follow an online gaming platform's page. PAGCOR, the gambling regulator, later fined that company P1 million for running the promo without approval. The fine hit the company, not her, and the coverage we read carries no statement from her on it.
She has also been dragged into gossip. In 2025 she was named as an alleged third party in a leaked complaint by the estranged wife of a Bacolod mayor. The mayor's lawyer called the claims baseless and retaliatory, and she had earlier denied being the woman rumoured to be involved. It's allegation and rumour, not a court finding, so it doesn't move our needle.
The good stuff is real. In July 2026 she won two inaugural FAMAS Broadcast Arts Awards, Best Public Service Show and Best Host for Public Service, the latter shared with journalist Kara David. She said she started out wanting to entertain people while helping those in need, and plans to keep giving back as long as she can.
So where does that leave us? She's a big-hearted, hard-working creator with a public-service record and no sign of nastiness toward anyone. The gambling-linked giveaway is a genuine ding, because pushing that to tens of millions of followers is a poor look. It isn't a pattern of hate, though, so it's an asterisk, not a fail.