NDF CHIEF JALANDONI JOINS JOMA, DEAD AT 90

FORMER Catholic priest, Luis ‘Louie’ Gamboa Jalandoni, finally joined his comrade-in-arms in the Philippine communist terrorist movement Jose Maria ‘Joma’ Sison to the grave after passing away at the ripe age of 90 in The Netherlands.

Jalandoni was former chair of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) that serves as the “umbrella” of all organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and spearheaded the series of “peace negotiations” with the Philippine government (FGRP) starting in 1987, negotiations that went nowhere.

His death on June 7 was reported by Jofelle Tesorio, TFCN (The Filipino News Channel) in The Netherlands, quoting Jalandoni’s daughter-in-law, Ruthie Paras.

Paras, in her own social media account post on June 8, thanked all those who offered “kind words, support and condolences at this difficult time.” An earlier post showed Jalandoni in a black printed shirt posing happily with some individuals, one of them a young man in a red basketball uniform with a medal. The caption reads, “RIP Papa Louie.”

Jalandoni was a naturalized Dutch citizen at the time of his death and came from one of the landed aristocratic families in Negros Island.

In a brief statement on June 7 thru its website, ‘Philippine Revolution Web Central’ (PRWC), the CPP’s Central Committee and the NDF’s National Council expressed “deep sorrow” in the passing of Jalandoni at around 9:05 am (3:05 pm, Philippine time) on June 7 “surrounded by comrades, his wife Ka Coni, and his family.”

“The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines expresses its condolences to Ka Louie’s family, whose love, strength, and support accompanied him through decades of service to the Filipino people’s revolutionary cause,” the CPP said.

In a separate statement, the Central Committee also called on the remnants of its remaining members to “Honor and uphold the revolutionary legacy of Ka Louie Jalandoni: stalwart of peace, revolutionary!”

Jalandoni is among the ‘Fundadores’ or “founders” of the CPP when it was established by Sison in December 1968 inside the Cojuangco’s ‘Hacienda Luisita’ being managed at the time by former Senator Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino Jr.

He would take over from Horacio ‘Boy’ Morales as chair of the NDFP after the latter’s arrest in 1982.

Like Sison and other top CPP leaders, Jalandoni would be carrying to the grave his “dream” of seeing the Philippines under communist rule. Sison died in Utrecht, The Netherlands, on December 16, 2022, at the age of 83 after two weeks confinement at the hospital.