PH consul general in NY says woman knocked down by Filipino health worker she insulted

MABALACAT CITY, Pampanga – A female Filipino health worker hit and knocked down an apparently racist woman inside an N Broadway Express train in New York City on Friday morning (Friday night in the Philippines), according to a Philippine consul general.

“A woman picked on the wrong Asian on the N train this morning (June 3). She spat on her hand and wiped her saliva on a young Filipino hospital worker seated next to her. She then saw a few stars. Our kababayan (fellow Filipino) comes from a family of boxing legends in the Philippines,” Elmer Cato, Philippine consul general in New York, tweeted on Saturday morning. Cato did not give further details, citing concerns about the safety of the female Filipino health worker.

A woman picked on the wrong Asian on the N train this morning. She spat on her hand and wiped her saliva on a young Filipino hospital worker seated next to her. She then saw a few stars. Our kababayan comes from a family of boxing legends in the Philippines. #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/e84SFlDdt9

— Elmer G Cato (@elmer_cato) June 3, 2022

In a message to the Inquirer, he said the Philippine consulate in New York has recorded “almost 40 incidents” of anti-Asian hate crimes and other criminal incidents involving Filipinos since 2021.

These include the brutal attack on a 67-year-old Filipino woman inside her apartment in Yonkers City, New York State on March 11. The victim, who was from the Ilocos region, sustained serious injuries to the head and face.

On March 15, Cato, along with leaders of Asian-American Community and local officials, held a news conference in front of the Yonkers City Hall to condemn the hate crimes against Filipino immigrants.

“We know authorities are doing their best to make the streets safe again but we also understand they could not be everywhere. But we do hope that authorities exert more efforts to remove violent and dangerous people off the streets and make everyone – not just Filipinos or other members of the Asian-American Community – feel safe again,” he said during the event.

Cato used to be the publisher and editor of The Angeles Sun, a Pampanga-based weekly newspaper, and national editor of the defunct Today national newspaper.

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