MANILA - Two of President Rodrigo Duterte's wartime predecessors provided sanctuary to Jews who fled persecution from Nazi Germany, drawing comparisons to businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of over 1,000 people during the Holocaust.

Duterte drew international condemnation on Friday after he mentioned his bloody war on drugs, pledging to "slaughter" thousands of drugs addicts, in the same vein as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's massacre of the Jews.

Schindler's exploits during World War II was the subject of American director Steven Spielberg's 1993 period drama "Schindler's List," which swept the Academy Awards the following year.

Former President Manuel Quezon welcomed over 1,000 Jews to Manila and Mindanao under his open-door policy in the 1930s.

"He had to set aside a parcel of his own property where a dormitory was built for these settlers," Quezon's grandson, former communications undersecretary Manolo Quezon said in an interview with BBC.

"At the time when most nations shut their doors, we were a nation that opened our doors for them," Quezon added.

Years later, under former President Manuel Roxas, the Philippines’ vote would become the tie-breaker in a United Nations vote that separated Israel from Palestine.

"Manuel is actually a Hebrew name, which means ‘God be with you’ or ‘with the help of God.’ It was very appropriate in both cases,” Embassy of Israel Deputy Chief of Mission Adam Levene said, referring to the first names of the two Filipino presidents who helped save and improve the life of Jews.

Israel reciprocated by allowing Filipinos to have visa-free access to their country and "respectable" working opportunities in the Holy Land.

"Israel has always had a positive connection to the Philippines. Filipinos need not have visas to go to Israel, out of gratitude to what happened. Filipinos will always be able to come for a pilgrimage at the Holy Land. The door will always be open," Levene told ABS-CBN News in an interview last year.

The Embassy of Israel in Manila held a year-long campaign called “Thank you, Philippines,” last year to celebrate the two countries' friendship.