By Alex P. Vidal
“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.”—Antisthenes
PHILIPPINE Consulate New York Consul General Elmer Cato should explain why the recent news on alleged harassment and violence committed against two Pinoys in New York didn’t have complete details.
First, Cato Twitted in May 2022 that an unidentified train passenger “wiped her saliva” on the Filipino health worker riding on the same train.
In retaliation, the Filipino health worker supposedly “punched” the alleged assailant of unknown nationality.
Cato offered no further details. He didn’t identify both the train protagonists other than warning the Filipino community to “be careful.”
As a community journalist, I immediately noticed a red flag in the way Cato narrated the alleged incident.
It’s too amusing to be true. I can recount a more believable version if I fabricate one, modesty aside.
Was it only a kuwentong barbershop meant to entertain your Twitter followers, Consul General Cato?
-o0o-
And most recently, Cato’s second Twit about violence victimizing our kababayans was about an “18-year-old tourist from Cebu” who was allegedly attacked while walking along Manhattan’s 36th Street.
Again, it was treated as gospel truth and picked by enthusiastic Philippine TV networks and newspapers.
The “news” even became viral despite lacking in substance to qualify as news.
Like in Cato’s first Twit, there’s no identity of the “victim” and no further details were given whatsoever.
To compound the matter, the two alleged incidents, which supposedly happened in the capital New York City, didn’t have a blotter report from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
There was zero running or follow up story from the major TV networks and newspapers in the Big Apple.
-o0o-
How can the well-entrenched and well-organized NYPD miss the two incidents Cato had ostensibly linked to the so-called Asian Hate Crime with all the police organization’s resources and intelligence apparatuses?
Again, there was no report from the normally alert and vigilant New York TV networks and the American media as a whole.
No crime or violence of such magnitude as Twitted by Cato can escape the very sophisticated CCTV monitors scattered around the Big Apple.
Were the alleged incidents a hoax?
But why would Cato, the highest Philippine Consulate official, Twit about the two incidents that allegedly happened, respectively, in May and July if they didn’t happen in the first place?
Cato might claim the twin incidents may have only been “reported” to his office now that cases of violence related to Asian Hate Crime has increased since the pandemic, but why withhold the names of the “victims?”
In order to properly document cases of harassment and violence against Asians living in the United States, it’s been advised that the victims’ identity must first and foremost be established so that proper measures are undertaken to immediately address the problem.
We are calling Cato’s attention on this controversy through this article. Kindly enlighten us, Mr. Consul General.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)
Comments are closed.