The Philippines was the first Asian country to officially recognize Israel as a state.
The Philippines and Israel. In an unparalleled “gesture of humanity” on the eve of World War II, the Philippines opened its door to 1,200 Jews fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust. Decades later, Israel has welcomed 40,000 Filipinos, many of whom take care of wartime survivors.
On March 14, the friendship between Manila and Jerusalem was cemented further with the unveiling of a marker that honored the part the Philippines played in saving many Jews from persecution and for being the first Asian country to recognize Israel as a state.
“These gestures of humanity are unparalleled in the history of the Philippines and the friendship of Jews and Filipinos is very much alive and vibrant today,” Ambassador Petronila Garcia said during the ceremony at Boys Town Jerusalem (BTJ) in Israel.
Garcia joined BTJ’s dean, Rabbi Moshe Linchner, and the honorary chair of the BTJ Foundation of America, Josh Weston, at the unveiling of the Philippine marker.
The marker recognizes the late President Manuel L. Quezon, among other individuals, and the Filipino people for denouncing the persecution of Jews and “opening the doors” to them just before the outbreak of World War II, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
At the ceremony, Linchner and Weston presented the Jan Zwartendijk Award for Humanitarian Ethics and Values to Quezon. Garcia received the award on behalf of the late president.
In her speech, delivered partly in Hebrew, Garcia thanked BTJ officials and the project facilitators and noted that the marker also “represents mutual commitment to educate the young generations of Jews and Filipinos about this magnanimity and gestures of humanity, as well the great friendship long after World War II.”
She noted that Israel has repaid the Philippines’ kindness, as in recent years it “has opened its doors to 40,000 overseas Filipino workers who now take care of the survivors of the Holocaust and World War II.”
In 1938, Filipinos rallied in Manila to denounce the persecution of Jews in Germany. Shortly after, Quezon offered 10,000 visas to European Jews. But only 1,200 visas were eventually issued as the war broke out.
In 1940, President Quezon supported the construction of a housing community in Marikina and donated a portion of his estate as farmland for the refugees.
During the war, both Jewish refugees and Filipinos survived the street battles in Manila. A few Jews reportedly joined the United States forces in the country.
In 1947, three years after Quezon’s death, the Philippines stood by the Jews as the country “delivered the most crucial and deciding vote” for the United Nations resolution creating the state of Israel, the DFA said.
The Philippines was the first Asian country to officially recognize Israel as a state.
The marker is located in the Jan Zwartendijk Memorial Garden, named after the non-Jewish Dutch diplomat who also came to the rescue of the Jews by giving them visas so they could leave Europe.
The DFA said this was the second recognition of its kind—the first was the Philippine Open Doors Monument inaugurated in June 2009 at the Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon LeZion, outside Tel Aviv.
“The history of friendship between Jews and Filipinos during the Holocaust and World War II was left untold for many years until the publication of the book entitled ‘Escape to Manila’ authored by the late Frank Ephraim, along with the chronicles and testimonies of Max Weissler,” the DFA said.
Weissler and Ephraim arrived in the Philippines as young refugees from Germany during the war.
