A CERTAIN Luis Gamboa Jalandoni did the Philippines and the Filipinos a great service by dying on June 7, 2025. And immediately on cue, the usual suspects, pseudo-communists and useful idiots, outdid themselves with all the praises and eulogies extolling the man for all his so-called virtues which was certainly a joke that wasn’t even funny.
Jalandoni was a Catholic priest and so-called political activist. He had been chairman of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
Jalandoni hailed from a wealthy family in Silay, Negros Occidental. In 1972 as a priest, he established the Christians for National Liberation.
The NDFP credits Jalandoni with his role of involving the Catholic and Protestant faithful to the Communist movement. He was arrested by the authorities and released in mid-1974.
He went into exile in the Netherlands and became a close aide of CPP-NPA-NDF demi-God, the late Jose Maria Sison.
From 1989 to 2016, Jalandoni served as chief negotiator for the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – NDF in peace negotiations with the Philippine national government.
The Anti-Terrorism Council designated Jalandoni as a terrorist.
According to Joy James Saguino, former deputy secretary of Southern Mindanao’s Sub-Regional Committee 1: “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.”
Meanwhile, in a statement from the NTF-ELCAC Director: “Peace talks under Jalandoni’s leadership were not peace-building efforts but political maneuvers to legitimize and shield the CPP-NPA-NDF while continuing to recruit minors, stunt the development of local communities, and attack state forces. As revealed by former rebels, these centralized peace talks were tactical gambits to popularize the CPP’s pipedream economic and political agenda dressed up as “socioeconomic reforms,” and serve as a ticket-to-freedom racket for their jailed leaders, providing legroom for the NPA’s consolidation and expansion campaign.
Jalandoni was driven by a myopic belief that peace in the Philippines could only be achieved through “the barrel of a gun” even if it meant sacrificing generations of youth and bleeding rural communities dry.
With one hand on the plough of negotiation and the other on the trigger of ideology, Jalandoni served not as a bridge to peace but as an apologist for protracted war.
Contrary to myth, Jalandoni and the rest of the Utrecht clique had no iota of – much less operational sway – over CPP-NPA-NDF forces on the ground, defeating the premise that they can effectively represent anyone in any negotiation. The reverence afforded him by cadres was frozen in time, a symbolic role in internationalizing the insurgency and romanticizing its claims of legitimacy.”
At the end of the day, he was just a priest who used his being a communist political activist as a gimmick to impress.
In another development, a social media user and also a member of Kabataan party-list published a sequence of posts on Facebook alleging that a fellow member sexually assaulted her on three distinct occasions.
The victim reportedly endured harassment and abuse, only to be failed by the group’s internal grievance mechanisms.
She later went public on social media with a detailed account of what happened to her. Only then did Kabataan party-list issue a statement insisting that the issue is being dealt with “internally” and “help” her file a case – a move clearly meant to save face because the issue could no longer be ignored.
In a statement, NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres Jr. said “the Makabayan bloc’s failure to condemn the rape incident exposes the deep hypocrisy and rot within their ranks.”/PN
