Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 17) — The Philippine Consul in New York urged Filipino victims of anti-Asian violence in the United States to stay vigilant and to report attacks against them to authorities for proper actions.
“We are urging our kababayans to be more vigilant when outside their residences,” Philippine Consul General Elmer Cato told CNN Philippines on Tuesday.
“Panawagan natin palagi is kung may nangyari sa kanila (Our plea is if anything happens to them) please inform us so we could put together all the data so we could inform our kababayans on the real situation and what they could do about it,” Cato added.
Citing data from the New York Police Department, hate crimes against Asians rose by 375% this year, of which 18 were directed to the consulate, Cato said.
However, he believes there are still more because Filipinos usually do not report such attacks to the consulate.
Two Filipinos were recently assaulted in New York – a Filipino woman distributing face masks to fellow subway passengers, and Filipino stage actor Miguel Braganza, who was attacked while on the way to his apartment in the Upper West Side.
The consul general said the spike occurred after the COVID-19 outbreak, noting many Americans blame Asians for the health crisis.
Most of the attacks were against the Chinese, followed by Koreans, then Filipinos.
However, Cato pointed out that most of the cases of Filipinos are “unprovoked, spontaneous incidents” involving homeless individuals with mental issues.
To support efforts of the NYPD to address the crimes, he said they earlier issued an advisory informing Filipinos to call 911 or reach out to the consulate through their hotline to inform them of any anti-Asian hate crime.
Webinars and self-defense workshops were also conducted to educate Filipinos on how to protect themselves when outside of their residences, Cato added.
