Fil-Ams advised to be very cautious as anti-Asian hate crimes in US spike

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26) — The Philippine Embassy in Washington urged Filipinos in the United States to use extreme caution as it sounded the alarm over the rising number of attacks against Asian Americans in several parts of America. 

"Filipinos are advised to exercise utmost caution in view of these incidents," the embassy said in a statement Thursday (Friday in the Philippines). "Those who experience attacks are advised to immediately call 911 to report these incidents," it added.

The embassy also called on federal, state and local authorities in the US to take action to further ensure the protection of Asians, including Filipinos.

In early Feb., a 61-year-old Filipino man was slashed in the face on the New York City subway.

Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate, an advocacy group documenting discrimination and racism against Asians during the pandemic, received over 2,800 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate between March and December last year, CNN International quoted the organization as saying.

"A majority of those attacks-- about 71% -- were cases of verbal harassment, while shunning or avoidance made up about 21%. About 9% of the incidents involved physical assaults, and 6% included being purposely coughed or spit on," CNN added.

The Asian American Bar Association of New York noted in a report published early this month that from January 1 to November 1, 2020, New York Police Department saw an eight-fold spike in the number of hate crimes against Asians compared to the same period in 2019.