EX-NDF CHAIRMAN LUIS JALANDONI DIES AT 90

THE  former chairman of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Luis Jalandoni has passed away at the age of 90, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) announced Saturday night. 

The CPP said Jalandoni passed away at 9:05 a.m. in Utrecht, the Netherlands (3:05 p.m. Philippine time) on Saturday.

“In his final moments, Ka Louie was surrounded by comrades, his wife Ka Coni and his family,” the CPP said.

”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 statement said.

The CPP described Jalandoni, a former Catholic priest from a landed family in Negros Occidental, as a “true internationalist, revolutionary leader, and stalwart of peace.

Jalandoni previously served as chief negotiator of the NDFP, the CPP’s political wing, in the negotiations with the government aimed at ending the decades-old communist insurgency in the Philippines.

Before the end of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration in June 2022, the Anti-Terrorism Council designated Jalandoni, along with five suspected members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), as a terrorist.

The designation, however, did not stop the succeeding Marcos administration from opening the door for negotiations again.

In November 2023, Jalandoni said that a “substantive agenda that can provide concrete benefits for the people, keeping in mind always that the roots of the armed conflict must be resolved,” should be pursued.

“The road to a long and lasting peace is long. The journey will be challenging; the final destination will not be easy to reach. But we have to traverse that path because the people want and deserve it,” Jalandoni had said. 

Jalandoni was a close aide of CPP founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, who died at the age of 83 in Utrecht, Netherlands.