UNPOPULAR OPINION | One plus one on Jalandoni’s passing

In the countryside of the Philippines—thousands of kilometers away from Utrecht, the Netherlands, where Ka Luis “Ka Louie” Jalandoni died on June 7—units (at least the few that remain) of the New People’s Army (NPA) staged a nationwide tribute. Other underground organizations offered their tributes and expressions of solidarity on the passing of one of their old guard. Red fighters held a silent 21-gun salute in accordance with a directive from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee. The tribute honored Jalandoni’s “exemplary and great contributions to the Filipino people’s revolutionary struggle.”

When the CPP Central Committee said, “Let us give them our firmest red salute”, surely they meant the NPA and the NDF organizations, right? Apparently, the message was received from other quarters as well.

Quickly following suit, supposedly legal organizations—among them the Makabayan bloc (comprising Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, ACT Teachers, and Kabataan), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Anakbayan, and Karapatan, among others—issued their own tributes. Karapatan called Jalandoni “the quintessential human rights defender.” BAYAN offered “the highest tribute” to a “tireless revolutionary fighter for a just and lasting peace.”

These public condolences may seem like standard expressions of respect, but the alignment is obvious to those familiar with the underground movement’s messaging playbook. For former rebels and observers of the communist movement, the connection is not surprising–it’s arithmetic. One plus one equals, yes, they’re one and the same. 

Unpopular opinion: are these tributes really just tributes, or are they signals of organizational loyalty to an ideology that still dreams of protracted war?

If these groups insist that they are unaffiliated with the CPP-NPA-NDF, why do their messages so often read like synchronized statements?

Again, to quote the CPP’s statement on Jalandoni’s passing: “Let us give him our firmest Red salute and celebrate his extraordinary life.” These words appeared, almost verbatim, across the statements of the so-called legal mass organizations. The same phrases— “revolutionary legacy,” “hero of the people”—reverberated through channels that, officially, claim no organizational ties to the CPP. 

Unpopular opinion: are these tributes really just tributes, or are they signals of organizational loyalty to an ideology that still dreams of protracted war? If that’s the case, then let’s stop pretending this is about grief. What we’re witnessing isn’t mourning. It’s messaging.