MANILA, Philippines — In yet another attack on a Filipino in the United States, the Philippine Consulate in New York reported Friday that a 51-year-old Filipino woman was “verbally assaulted and harassed” in the city.
Elmer Cato, the Philippines’ consul general in New York, said on Twitter that the Filipino woman was also prevented by her attacker, identified as a “homeless woman,” from boarding a train at the 63rd Drive Subway Station in Rego Park in the Queens borough.
This comes just a little over a week since an 18-year-old Filipino tourist was violently assaulted near the Philippine Center in Manhattan where he sustained injuries on his face.
Described by Cato as “another hate incident,” this attack is the latest reported to the consulate in New York which has seen a 12.6% increase in hate crimes compared to the past year, according to data from the New York Police Department.
Major crimes in the city have also soared by 37%, while transit crimes spiked by 55.5%, prompting the consulate there to advise Filipinos to be vigilant.
Filipinos and other Asians have been targets of racially-motivated attacks in the US, which began to see a spike since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. — Xave Gregorio