“You lived the Gospel not only with your lips, but with your whole being. You taught not just with words but with a life never separate from the struggle. Whether in the quiet of negotiations or the thunder of protest, your principles held firm. You walked the talk, each step leaving footprints for generations to follow.”

Manila – When news of the passing of former National Democratic Front chief peace negotiator, Luis “Ka Louie” Jalandoni, broke, tributes and messages from groups and individuals flooded the internet, revealing the former priest’s deep love for the country and for the Filipino people.

Many tributes highlighted Ka Louie’s service as an ordained priest and his later decision to take a more radical path by joining the underground movement.

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) described Ka Louie as a former Roman Catholic priest who was born into a wealthy landowning family in Negros.

“He was exposed to the root causes of the armed conflict in the country – poverty, landlessness, inaccessibility to services and inequitable distribution of resources when he was assigned in the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Bacolod… Later he left the priesthood in pursuit of a more just and democratic society for the Philippines, ultimately joining the revolutionary movement,” they group added. 

Netizen Eli Bethune, in a June 8 Facebook tribute post mentioned that Ka Louie was “not only a revolutionary, but a follower of Christ’s radical love.” 

Bethune added, “You lived the Gospel not only with your lips, but with your whole being. You taught not just with words but with a life never separate from the struggle. Whether in the quiet of negotiations or the thunder of protest, your principles held firm. You walked the talk, each step leaving footprints for generations to follow.”

A genuine man of peace

After the fall of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship, and with the start of the peace negotiations, Ka Louie had been involved in the promotion of a just and lasting peace and with the cessation of hostilities through principled and a socially meaningful transition that would address the root causes of the grassroots revolution in the country.

As netizen Bethune said of Ka Louie, “You were more than a man of peace, you were a living bridge between peoples and nations, between suffering and hope, between the dreams of the oppressed and the possibility of justice.”

More than a concept, peace was an achievable goal for Ka Louie, although the path is narrow, difficult, and long.

He sat in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) as chair of the NDFP negotiating panel for the longest time, and even after retiring, he continued to sit as senior adviser.

He saw the signing of landmark agreements like the Hague Joint Declaration of 1992, which formed the basis of the peace negotiations as well as the substantive agenda of the peace talks. It was also during his time as chair of the NDFP negotiating panel that the first of the four major documents was signed, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), and then tirelessly worked for the drafting of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), the document that would bring social and economic reforms in the country, favoring and protecting the welfare of the ordinary Filipino.

And although the negotiations broke down several times under different administrations, he continued to raise awareness on the importance of the signing of CASER, as an essential agreement to ensure the economic and social security of the ordinary Filipino. 

A legacy of generosity

An anecdote in the life of Ka Louie that was shared by people who took to social media their stories of the gentle revolutionary was the time when he gave the land he inherited from his family to their long-time tenants. 

In his First Person article, veteran journalist Raymund Villanueva shared that in one of his encounters with Ka Louie in his family’s home in Silay, Negros Occidental, he noticed that many people were coming to him, bringing gifts of local produce. He later learned that these gifts were actually grown in the land that he gave to these people. His “personal land reform beneficiaries”, as Villanueva would put it.

Read: First Person | Ka Louie and the alugbati

His generosity went beyond material generosity, as Migrante Europe would put it, the group was surprised when he graced their group’s Congress. His presence in gatherings of patriotic groups is a living out of his commitment for the promotion of peace and social justice in his home country, the Philippines, and a contribution to the international struggle for justice.

Gene de Jesus, chair of Migrante Bologna wrote in a post how the group was able to benefit from the generosity of Ka Louie when he shared the importance of CASER in a forum held in 2018, which was also to coincide with the launch of their group. He wrote in Filipino, “A raised-fist salute and gratitude to Ka Louie Jalandoni for your significant role in advancing and striving for national peace and justice for our country, the Philippines.”

Ecumenical group Pilgrims for Peace also wrote, “Never tiring in speaking at gatherings, answering questions, facilitating discussions, Ka Louie demonstrated a well-spring of solidarity and a keen ear to listen to the hearts and dreams of the poor, deprived and oppressed and their advocates.”

Ka Louie died at the age of 90 on June 7 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. (AMU, RVO)

Disclosure: ChatGPT was used to translate Filipino quotes to English. The translation was vetted by a human.