Former rebels cast Jalandoni’s death as “cautionary tale”

By Kontra-Kwento

MANILA, Philippines — Luis Gamboa “Ka Louie” Jalandoni, the Negros-born ex-priest who spent nearly five decades overseas championing the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army–National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), died on 7 June 2025 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He was 90, according to a statement the CPP released on Saturday.

The CPP said Jalandoni “went peacefully at about 9:05 a.m. Utrecht time (3:05 p.m. in Manila), surrounded by his wife Coni Ledesma, close comrades and family.”

Jalandoni helped found Christians for National Liberation in 1972, later became the NDFP’s international representative, and was designated chief negotiator in 1989—roles he kept until formal talks stalled in 2017.

Together with his wife Coni, Jalandoni secured political asylum in the Netherlands in 1976 after a brief imprisonment in Fort Bonifacio. From Utrecht, he built a global solidarity network for the CPP-NPA-NDF, lobbying European governments and multilateral bodies. In 2022 the Anti-Terrorism Council designated him and five others as terrorists over their links to rebel operations in Negros and the Visayas.

While the CPP mourned its longtime negotiator, former members of the CPP-NPA-NDF underscored what they called “the true cost” of the armed struggle.

The coalition SAMSON (Strong Active Movement Sustaining Opposition to and Negation of CTG Church Infiltration) cited Jalandoni’s role in creating CNL and his terrorist designation, calling it “a profound divergence from the principles of his priestly calling.”

SAMSON added that Jalandoni’s legacy “should serve as a cautionary tale” about “the devastating consequences of abandoning the principles of faith and choosing violence over dialogue.”

Joy James Saguino, who once served as deputy secretary of Southern Mindanao’s Sub-Regional Committee 1, minced no words: “He preached armed struggle but never held a rifle, never starved in the mountains, never buried a comrade. He led nothing. He escaped, then watched others die for the fantasy he sold,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

As is customary within the CPP and its legal democratic organizations, luksang parangal (tribute ceremonies) will likely be held to honor Jalandoni’s life and work. For former rebels, however, those rites cannot erase what they describe as a trail of wasted lives.

Whether those lives—and Jalandoni’s own—will tilt public opinion further against the 55-year insurgency remains to be seen. Still, critics of the communist movement insist the lesson is already clear: romantic myths die hard, even when their architects do, too. (8 June 2025)