Another transgender woman was found murdered in the Philippines last week with 33 stab wounds on her body.

Astig reports Mary Joy Añonuevo was found dead at about 9:30am last Tuesday in the basement of Koozy Resto Bar in Lucena city.

As well as suffering from 33 stab wounds, Añonuevo was also strangled to death and robbed of her possessions.

Residents called police after they heard screaming at 11pm the previous night and said the bar had been left open.

Police said they would be treating the crime as a robbery after they found a tablet, money, and jewerly were missing from the body.

Her friends, however, say they fear it could have been a hate crime because of the method of the killing.

Transgender activist Dindi Tan posted on Facebook: “I don’t know how many more sisters do we have to lose because of crimes and other gender-based violence.

“These incidents of transgender deaths and violence is growing out of proportions and the government must do something about it NOW!!!”

It comes after 26-year-old Jennifer Laude Sueselbeck was found strangled on this month, naked with her head in the toilet.

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton – who was one of hundreds of US marines in the area for a training exercise – was formally charged of the woman’s murder a few days later.

Charlese Saballe, chairwoman of the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP), has said: “Only days after Jennifer was killed, two other trans women were murdered.”

Politicians in the Philippines are pushing for a tougher anti-discrimination law following the incident, which has also stirred anti-US sentiment.

Two Philippines lawmakers have said they plan to file a bill to curb anti-LGBT hate crimes.