Linus Guardian Escandor II is an Independent Photojournalist and Documentary Photographer currently living in Manila, Philippines. He focuses on themes of environment, health, social and human rights issues.
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The Weight of Witness
A Journey Through Storms, War, and the Unseen Philippines
Some people choose the stories they tell.
Others are chosen by them.
I never set out to photograph tragedy. I only wanted to understand people. But in the Philippines, history does not wait for permission — it arrives like a storm, a gunshot, or a cry in the dark. Before you realize it, you are standing in the middle of it, holding nothing but a camera and the weight of truth. This book spans more than a decade of frontline witnessing across some of the country’s most defining crises — from the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, to the ruins of the Marawi siege, to the long nights documenting families affected by the Philippine anti-drug campaign during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte.
These photographs were not taken from a distance. They were lived, carried, and remembered.
What began as assignments became encounters that stayed long after the shutter was lowered. This memoir is not about glorifying suffering. It is about resilience — of communities, of families, and of a nation still learning how to heal.
It is about finding light in places where light should not exist. It is about the cost of witnessing, and the purpose behind it.
If these pages feel heavy, it is because they are real.If they feel hopeful, it is because hope was always there
—
even in the ruins,
even in the darkness,
even when it was difficult to see it.
Tanduay
The Making of the Filipino Rum (165th Anniversary Edition)
Commissioned for the Tanduay Distillers, Inc. 165th anniversary, this collection documents the lives of the sacadas — the seasonal sugarcane workers of Negros whose labor sustains one of the Philippines’ oldest agricultural industries.
Long before sunrise touches the sugarcane fields, these workers are already at work. Their presence represents the backbone of an industry that produces millions of tons of sugar annually, sustained by approximately 150,000 agricultural laborers whose lives remain largely unseen.
This book is a visual record of labor, land, and endurance — honoring the silent rhythm of work that shapes both industry and community.
Marawi on the War's End
100 Days of Witnessing
Beginning May 25, 2017, this work documents a 100-day field coverage of the Marawi siege as a visual witness to one of the most significant urban conflicts in modern Philippine history. Through sustained presence in the field, the project records the resilience of the Maranao people, the displacement of families, and the silent human struggle to survive amid destruction.
The photographs reflect not only the physical aftermath of the siege but also the dignity, endurance, and fragile hope carried by communities forced to leave their homes in the name of security and survival.
