A grand seigneur steps down – An obituary by Rainer Werning
On the death of Comrade Luis G. Jalandoni (1935 – 2025)
The longstanding chief representative of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has died at the age of 90 in exile in the Netherlands
Luis G. Jalandoni had been living in exile in Utrecht, the Netherlands, for almost 50 years. He was the chief international representative of the revolutionary alliance National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and, until the autumn of 2016, the NDFP’s longstanding head of delegation in the peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. He passed away in the early hours of June 7 2025 surrounded by his family, long-time friends and comrades. He was a veritable grand seigneur of the revolutionary movement in the Philippine archipelago, always maintaining his composure and prone to spontaneous bursts of hearty laughter. Had the political situation in the Philippines been a different one, he could have served his country as a highly respected foreign minister.
Ka Louie (Comrade Luis), as he was affectionately known to his closest friends and comrades, began his rich life with a class betrayal. Growing up in a sheltered environment as the son of a wealthy landowner family with large estates on the central Philippine island of Negros, he was confronted from an early age with the gaping contradictions between the way of life of the few rich sugar barons and that of the masses of impoverished day labourers who spent their lives in drudgery and harassment as seasonal workers (sacadas). For many years, Negros was synonymous with sugar cane monoculture, which brought the regional landlords considerable power and financial benefits.
At the age of 20, Ka Louie entered a seminary, where he studied philosophy for three years and theology for four. On the recommendation of his professors, he completed further graduate studies in Rome and Munich. In 1967, he returned to Bacolod, the capital of the province of Negros Occidental, where he was ordained a priest in December of the same year. On the instructions of Antonio Fortich, the Bishop of Bacolod, the young priest was put in charge of social work in the diocese. Fortich always referred to Negros as „a social volcano“ due to the extreme exploitation of sugar cane workers and omnipresent state repression. The sensitive young priest experienced his political awakening as in a time lapse. Every day he was confronted with the hardships of day labourers, impoverished tenant farmers and smallholders. A commitment to defending their interests – by fighting for unionization and wage increases for example – inevitably led to clashes with hacienderos, notorious warlords and their hired henchmen.
Through his involvement with the student youth movement, Jalandoni became acquainted with the book „Philippine Society and Revolution“ by José Maria Sison alias Amado Guerrero, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This book was the Filipino equivalent of the „Mao Bible“ in the People’s Republic of China at the time of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Through his intensive reading of this book the young theologian came to the realisation that, under the prevailing social conditions, armed struggle was clearly justified. He joined the political underground movement, took on leadership positions within the revolutionary mass organisation „Christians for National Liberation“ when it was founded in 1972 and actively participated in the planning and implementation of political protest marches and strikes.
It is no wonder that Ka Louie and his companion and later wife Coni Ledesma became targets of state repression. Both spent several months in prison in 1974 until strong support from progressive church people secured their release. By the end of 1976 both had managed to flee to the Netherlands and obtain political asylum there. Ka Louie went on to become the leading international representative of the NDFP in Utrecht and was chairman and head of delegation of the NDFP negotiating team at the peace talks with the Philippine government from 1994 to 2016. In this role, he was one of the co-signatories of the groundbreaking The Hague Joint Declaration on 1 September 1992, which recognized the status of the NDFP as a belligerent party and categorically ruled out surrender.
The fact that Ka Louie was branded a „terrorist“ in the final phase of the bloodthirsty Duterte regime (2016-22) says more about the constitution of the political leadership in Manila and their yapping pincher dogs, than about a man who always stood firm and unbending in his defence of the interests of the masses. Ka Louie’s legacy will resonate long after the „traditional politicians“ (trapos) and their sycophants in the islands have long since fallen into oblivion. And what is more: his ever friendly, smiling demeanour and his ability to listen attentively to his counterparts and treat them with due respect – a gift that is often so lacking today – will always be remembered.
Dr. Rainer Werning is a social and political scientist from Cologne (Germany). He knew Ka Louie for over four decades and shared a close friendship with him. Among other things, he is co-editor of the book „From Marcos to Marcos: The Philippines since 1965“, which will be published by the Promedia Verlag in Vienna in autumn 2025, when the Philippines will be the Guest of Honour at the 2025 Frankfurt International Book Fair.