By Student Christian Movement of the Philippines
We extend our great admiration and tribute to Luis “Louie” Jalandoni, former chairman of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiation panel for peace negotiations between them and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). We extend our mourning and sympathy with loved ones and fellow peace advocates, including his wife Coni Ledesma, also a peace negotiator, on the passing of Jalandoni on Saturday, June 7, 2025.
Jalandoni came from a major landed family in Negros, among those considered as the sugar barons of Western Visayas. He became a Catholic priest at a crucial time of crisis and poverty in the Philippines. Partly as a result of the ‘aggiornamento’ of Vatican II, and more so by the social realities of the country, especially in Negros, Jalandoni became aware of the terrible situations of poverty and inequalities that the masses of sugar plantation workers have endured under the exploitative landlord class. Church people were also exposed to, and have even experienced, rampant cases of massacres, extrajudicial killings and wanton arrests committed by state forces against ordinary people made worse under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
To escape persecution and to continue the revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people, Jalandoni went underground, together with nun, fellow landed elite, and future wife Coni Ledesma. They became forefronts in the establishment of the revolutionary organization Christians for National Liberation, instrumental in the conscientization of innumerable church people in the struggle against the dictatorship. He then assumed roles in the NDFP in its engagement with peace negotiations with the GRP. Despite the importance of his role, the former Duterte administration declared many involved, including Jalandoni, in the terrorist list.
To some Christians, the path that the likes of Jalandoni have taken seems extraordinary. However, Jalandoni has proven, by following the way of Christ, that is, emptying oneself for the service of the anawim, the path towards genuine liberation then urges us the systemic change of society through revolutionary means. It is a road less traveled, even among the faithful, for imitating Christ’s whole self-sacrifice for the sake of others is something of a challenge even for most Christians. It is a road less traveled, but Jalandoni took wholeheartedly by making himself, initially as a member of the landlord class, to be resurrected among the life-and-death struggle of the poor and the oppressed. We hope that more Christians would become like Christ Himself in living and dying among the kind of people whom Christ Himself served first and foremost.
We hope that many more Christians would participate in the struggle of genuine peace, including the call for the resumption of peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP, which, in essence, is to solve the socio-economic roots of armed conflict and the extremely sinful situation of worsening poverty in the country. Let our tongues mobilize many more faithful in fulfilling the good news to poor Filipinos — genuine land reform and national industrialization — the fulfillment of our national and democratic aspirations.