Highest salute to Ka Luis “Louie” Jalandoni! His legacy lives on through the Filipino people!

We offer our deepest condolences to the friends and family of former chairman and senior political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Ka Louie, to his wife Ka Coni and his comrades. We mourn the loss of an exemplary revolutionary who has contributed much towards the causes and calls of the Filipino people, especially to the National Minorities, but we also pay tribute through celebrating Ka Louie’s life that was dedicated fully towards the masses.

Through his work with the NDFP, Ka Louie supported the movement of the Indigenous Peoples and Bangsamoro. His leadership of the NDFP peace panel was instrumental in forging key agreements with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), which remain binding to this day, such as the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) that includes provisions that protect Indigenous Peoples and Moro communities from human rights violations, including those perpetrated by paramilitary groups. Ka Louie made sure that the voices and concerns of National Minorities were not sidelined in the peace process. He personally consulted with IP and Moro communities and ensured that their aspirations for self-determination were included in the peace agenda. In the ongoing work toward a Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER) of the NDFP, there is a section for the recognition of the ancestral lands and territories of the National Minorities.

Representing the NDFP, Ka Louie also urged the Estrada administration to reconsider the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which primarily benefits foreign mining corporations and threatens the ancestral lands of Indigenous Peoples.

Katribu continues to uphold the Our Fight Is Just Campaign, in which we struggle and call for peace that is based on justice. With this, we recognize Ka Louie and the NDFP’s protracted efforts to pursue just and lasting peace through addressing the root causes of armed conflict. We are one with the NDFP’s 12-point program, in recognition that the National Minorities’ struggle for self-determination is not separate from the goals of genuine liberation for the Filipino people that the NDFP is pioneering. Ka Louie will forever live on in the memory of the National Minorities as a man who sought to end all kinds of oppression and exploitation of all sectors of society.

We may have lost a great leader, but we take solace in knowing that we have the broadening national democratic movement who will continue the legacy of Ka Louie. Ka Louie lives!