The collective Silingan Candlemakers is trying to mold a brighter future for the families of the victims of the former administration’s war on drugs.
What started as a coffee venture now lights up a new livelihood project in a small makeshift factory located at an old podium outside of a church in Navotas City.
Silingan is the brainchild of photojournalist and missionary Bro. Ciriaco “Jun” Santiago, CSsR. It simply translates to the word “neighbor” in Cebuano. As a collective, they hope that justice would come knocking on the doors of those responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents during the campaign against illegal drugs.
The people who work in the small candle factory are those Santiago has helped since 2016. Family members of drug war victims as well as vulnerable people on the drug watchlist requested for livelihood rather than cash aid and donations from him.
The project started as a coffee shop with a mission to tell stories straight from the experiences of family members. Eventually, they decided to push through with the sustainable production of candles.
Silingan was supposed to launch the project in November 2023 through a collaboration with the church and training in crafting with wax from Santiago’s colleague, Vincent Go. However, an abandoned school where they were supposed to operate was burned down, pushing back their production to February 2024.
At present, 24 candlemakers share the working space with an aim to rebuild their lives from the trauma that the bloody war on drugs left on them.
Santiago said he’s only the one who provided the victims the opportunity. But in terms of hard work, all the credit goes to the families of the victims of extrajudicial killings in building Silingan as a brand.
Healing with candles
Candle crafter Mark Soledad, 29, shared that all the candles molded in the production are from recycled materials. Melted wax from the sconces of Baclaran Church are collected and transported to Navotas for reproduction – a sustainable effort to reduce waste that is giving used candles a second chance to serve the people again.
“Ang kandila po namin dito ay walang tapon, kumbaga nagagawan po namin ng paraan para mabalik ulit sa market at mapakinabangan ulit ng mga tao. (We don’t have wastage in our candles. We ensure they are recycled and sold again for people to use),” Soledad said.
Employees of the candle factory are also equipped with psychosocial interventions in the form of a project called “Paghilom (Healing).” Soledad said the healing sessions ran for six months.
Soledad’s family was among the first in the country to experience the Duterte brand of war on drugs, also known as “Tokhang.
On October 22, 2016, his father was sleeping inside their house when a group of policemen entered, firing seven gunshots. Later, his brother was tied outside their home and transferred to a secluded area where he was murdered.
Soledad said his mother was also tortured. He, along with his two underaged siblings, were placed behind bars afterwards as their house was on the drug watch list.
“Kami po ang kauna-unahang tokhang ng 2016. October 22, pag-upo palang ni Duterte kami ang unang example sa Navotas ng Tokhang. Eight years na po. (We were the first to experience ‘tokhang’ in Navotas back on October 22, 2016. It has been eight years),” Soledad said.
Soledad now focuses on candle making and how to apply what he has learned from Project Paghilom in terms of healing from trauma. Before working with Silingan, Soledad was employed as a construction worker and sidecar driver, but those were not enough to provide stable income for his own family. He said the little candle factory in Navotas was an avenue for him to rebuild his life, earn constant paychecks, and even save money.
Justice is about constantly fighting for human rights Mary Ann Domingo, 51, lost her husband Luis and son Gabriel in a police buy-bust operation during the peak of the drug war campaign.
For her, justice in the country is about constantly fighting for human rights.
“Yung hustisya… kahit lumalaban ka na ano… kailangan maghintay ka. Kahit matagal kailangan na magpatuloy ka pa rin na lumalaban. ‘Wag kang susuko. Kasi dapat ipaglaban pa rin ang karapatan namin bilang isang tao (Even though you fight for justice, you still need to wait. Even though it is long, you need to fight continuously… Do not give up because we need to fight for our rights as human beings),” Domingo said.
Past midnight on September 15, 2016, around 15 to 20 men, some in police uniforms, barged into their house, declaring a drug bust operation. Eight years later, four policemen who participated in the drug bust operation were found guilty of homicide.
“Para sa akin nagpapasalamat ako kay judge, kasi pinakinggan niya po yung katotohanan. Nagpapasalamat ako na napakita ko na may human rights violation talaga na ginawa ng kapulisan. (I thank the judge for listening to the truth. I am thankful I was able to show that there really were human rights violations that the police committed),” Domingo said.
She is now the external team leader of Silingan candlemakers.
“Itong Silingan, napakalaking tulong sa amin kasi kahit may edad na kami, nabigyan kami ng pagkakataong kumita… na makatulong kami sa aming mga pamilya na mabuhay namin (Silingan is a big help, especially for the elderly like us. It provided us with a means to earn money and to help our families),” Domingo said.
Remembering the victims
Silingan’s vision, Santiago said, is to tell stories and memorialize the people who died from the war on drugs.
Santiago said some of their candles were printed with names and descriptions of EJK victims in a bid on their mission “Alab, Mitsa, Liwanag (Flame, Wick, Light).
“Hindi na kandila na lang yung nakikita nila. Yung kandila na yun may istorya yan. Yung alab yung hope… Yung apoy at mitsa kapag pinagtagpo siya magii-spark yung marami. Tapos yung liwanag ay paghingi pa rin ng katarungan (It’s not just candles that they see. These candles have stories. The flame is their hope. When the fire and wick fuse, it creates spark for many. And light is to ask for justice),” Santiago said.
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