With the women empowerment movement on the rise, YouTube vlogger and actress Ivana Alawi said she has always believed in supporting other women and to stop the act of catcalling and harassment against women. At the presscon for her first iWant TFC horror film Sitsit, Ivana revealed her own experience with unwanted attention from strangers.

READ: Ivana Alawi stars in her first horror movie ‘Sitsit’

“I’ve experienced this before when I used to work in events, when I used to do modeling. I’ve experienced so many harassments, not just catcalling, I’ve experienced people touching my body without permission and this is not right. I always stand dun sa tama. Dun ako kung saan ang tama and respecting people, kahit babae yan, lalake yan, we need to be respected and no matter kung ano yung suot, dapat nirerespeto kasi especially yung mga babae they deserve to be respected and they deserve to be loved kasi women are very strong. Women bring life to this world. So dapat nirerespeto sila,” she said.

The 23-year-old sexy model and actress saysid that just because she is being referred to as a “hubadera” does not mean she will take all her clothes off. “Yung tag ko as being hubadera is naka-swimsuit ako. I’ve never shown anything more than that. As in naka-two-piece ako. Ang hubadera for me is taking off my t-shirt, wearing bikinis. Being a hubadera is not full nude,” she shared during the Sitsit presscon held last October 23.

In her episode Aswang, Ivana plays the role of a money-hungry prostitute named Joyce who is desperate to escape her life after being used and abused by different people. One day, she meets Nala, a stray dog who becomes her companion for life and ends up turning all her insecurities and worries into life-changing opportunities.

“Kasi dream ko talaga yung horror. Gusto ko ma-experience yung horror shooting, yung baliw na character, yung magpapatay ng tao, yung ganun. Kasi yung YouTube is myself and then when I entered this, when I started shooting for this, iba siya eh. Talagang nababaliw ako na pag sinabi ni direk Erin Pascual, ‘O start na tayo, mag-internalize ka na.’ So andun na ako sa mindset na hindi na ako si Ivana. Kasi ang ganda ng character talaga nung babae kasi i-na-abuse, which is completely opposite kung sino ako. So medyo na-excite ako dito sa character. It was very nice playing it,” she admitted.

Despite the horror aspect, the film also has a sexy vibe which Ivana says was not an issue for her because the production did not force her to actually do any revealing scenes. “They respected me naman. Sabi ko I’m not comfortable na may mga scenes na gagawin so kumuha naman sila ng double for the other scenes,” she said.

Scorpio is directed by Ato Bautista, while Aswang is directed by Erin Pascual. Actor Paulo Avelino is co-producer for Aswang.

Catch Sitsit on the iWant TFC app (iOS and Android) or on iwanttfc.com starting October 31. For updates, like www.facebook.com/iWantTFC, and follow @iwanttfc on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to www.youtube.com/iWantTFC. For inquiries and concerns about the service, users can also send a message on iWant TFC’s Facebook page or e-mail support@iwanttfc.com.