HOME. The Philippine Center along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The building houses several Philippine government offices, including the Consulate General. (PNA photo by Joyce Rocamora)
NEW YORK CITY – The incidence of pandemic-fueled hate crimes targeting Asian or Filipino immigrants has died down in the state of New York, the Philippine Consulate General reported.
Philippine Consul General in New York Senen Mangalile said “hate crimes” in general still exist but those targeting Asian immigrants are “not happening” anymore.
“I will say that there is no Asian hate crime prevalence in New York, just hate crimes and that’s driven by the mental health issue of the perpetrators,” he told visiting Filipino journalists at the Philippine Center in Manhattan over the weekend.
“During the pandemic there’s really parang (it seemed like) they’re pinpointing Asians but now it’s not happening but everybody has to be aware of their surroundings and take personal precautions as always,” he added.
The coronavirus pandemic, which brought the world to a halt in 2020 until it was declared out in 2023, fueled rhetorics blaming Asian immigrants for carrying the disease into the US.
Such misinfirmation spurred a rise in racially based attacks.
At its peak, a 2021 Stop Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate study said Filipinos ranked third among Asians who experienced hate incidents and crimes, trailing Chinese and Koreans.
Assaults in New York state formally classified as Asian hate crimes reached 31 in 2020 and rose to 140 in 2021, according to the 2023 US Commission on Civil Rights report.
Of the total, 131 happened in New York City.
Filipino caregiver Belinda Thomas, who has been living in Manhattan for 16 years, shared a similar observation.
“I agree with that because I never experienced that. I'm always here in Manhattan, and I never experienced Asian hate here in New York City,” she said in an interview on April 27.
Thomas said she still feels safe living and working in the state despite reported incidents in the past.
Marivir Montebon, a Filipino journalist working in Queens, said she has not monitored hate-fueled crimes against a certain ethnicity lately.
“So far wala naman (there’s none) within the last maybe three months, so that’s good. But it doesn’t mean (there is totally none). We don’t know, wala lang na-report (It’s just that no one reported),” she said in a telephone interview.
These days, Montebon is more mindful as general hate-related crimes still occur here.
"I don’t take chances kasi hindi ka naman puwedeng maging kampante because New York is very busy and there are so many people na pakalat pakalat lang (you cannot be complacent because New York is very busy and there are different kinds of people out and about there)," she said. (PNA)
