The Philippine government has called for an end to the hate and violence towards Asians in the United States amid concerns that a number of Filipinos are among the victims of these crimes.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque admitted the government was worried about the welfare of Filipinos living in the US amid the reported rising tide of hate against Asians.
A group tracking anti-Asian incidents in the United States released a report showing Filipinos ranked third among the ethnic groups of hate crime victims.
"Sana po ay matigil na ito at nakakalungkot po at nakakabahala (We hope this will end. It is both saddening and disturbing)," Roque said during a televised press briefing Thursday, August 19.
"Halos lahat tayo ay mayroong kamag-anak sa Amerika at ayaw nating maging biktima ang ating mga kababayan (Almost all of us have relatives in the United States and we don't want our countrymen to become victims)," he added.
Roque observed that anti-Asian attacks only erode the United States' reputation as the "land of immigrants."
"Iyong mga kababayan natin, mga kamag-anak natin nagpunta sa Amerika kasi alam natin what drives America is the hopes and aspirations ng mga immigrants (Our countrymen, our relatives went to America because we know what drives America is the hopes and aspiration of the immigrations)," he said.
"So parang kapag pag-iinitan mo iyong mga immigrants ay pinag-iinitan mo iyong, kumbaga, kaluluwa ng Amerika mismo as the land of immigrants (So who you attack immigrants, you're also attacking somehow the spirit of America as the land of immigrants)," he said.
Based on the Stop Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate report, there have been 9,081 Asian hate incidents in the United States from March 2020 to June 2021. Most of the incidents occurred in public places.
Based on the report, the Chinese reported the highest number of hate incidents at 43.5 percent among ethnic groups. Koreans ranked second with 16.8 percent, followed by Filipinos with 9.1 percent, Japanese at 8.6 percent, and and Vietnamese at 8.2 percent. Most of the discrimination against Asians were reportedly verbal harassment and shunning/deliberate avoidance, and physical assault, and civil rights violations.