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by Patrick Quintos, ABS-CBNnews.com
A Filipino living in Ontario, Canada went an extra mile to confront a complete stranger who was physically abusing a woman.
Kevin Panlilio, a native of Cainta, Rizal, said he was waiting for his dad to pick him up at a bus station around midnight when he chanced upon a couple arguing.
“Few moments later it turns to screaming, with the guy of course overpowering the girl,” he told ABS-CBNNews.com.
Panlilio said he did not want to step in, especially since he did not have anything to do with the couple.
“I wanted to pretend I wasn’t hearing them so I turned up the music on my iPhone. I was actually walking away slowly too because, to be honest, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them,” he said.
However, he suddenly felt an urge to intervene when he saw the guy pulling the girl’s hair and punching her.
“To be honest with you, I got scared, but as soon as I saw that fist hit the girl’s face it was almost of impulse reaction, instinct that I just had to go and intervene,” he said.
He said that as he walked closer to the couple, he knew he had to be gentle “because fighting fire with fire is foolish.”
Panlilio said he calmly told the man to stop what he was doing, but the man was too angry.
“As I was just about to tell the girl to leave, the guy grabs my hoodie and sucker punches me couple of times in the face. I went down on my knees but can still see and hear the girl being able to drive away,” he said.
The girl was able to escape while the man vented his anger upon the Filipino. Instead of hitting back, Panlilio said he just asked the guy to stop.
“The guy was still taunting me and wanted to hit me more but I just again asked for him to stop and ‘find something that’ll make him happy’ or something to that effect,” he said, explaining that the phrase he used was something that his mom has always been telling him since he was a child.
“The guy then ran to his car, and so did I to the nearest bus shelter in fear of him getting some sort of weapon. Luckily, he didn’t,” he added.
The punch left Panlilio a damaged tissue on the face and a black eye.
He admitted that at first, he was apathetic to the issue of domestic violence, but the incident he got into was an eye-opener.
“It made me realize that domestic violence is a much bigger issue than I expected. It’s definitely a bigger conversation that everybody needs to have,” he said.
Panlilio said that after the incident, many of his friends opened up to him about the abuse they had been experiencing.
“But after this incident, a lot of my friends had messaged me, phoning me, texting me, telling me that they themselves are victims of domestic abuse; from their fathers, boyfriends,” he said.
Panilio is now involved with a group in Ontario that helps women and children suffering abuse.
He also posted his “black-eye” photo on Facebook to raise awareness about the issue of domestic violence, not only in Canada, but in other places too.
Panlilio’s photo has now more than 40,000 Likes and 1,000 Shares on Facebook.
“I just hope with this picture that people will not get scared to intervene with the fear of getting a black eye, but rather be encouraged to step in when witnessing domestic violence,” he said.
Panililio lived in the Philippines until he and his family left for Canada in 2005. He said they still visit the Philippines once in a while and he still considers himself “100% Pinoy.”
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
Photo: Kevin Panlilio’s Facebook page
