The CPP in its tribute to Luis Jalandoni said the NDFP Negotiating Panel’s longest-serving chairperson is “beloved by the masses.”

I was witness to this.

I once was a guest at Ding and Inday (nee Jalandoni) dela Paz’s home in Silay after a peace and human rights forum in Bacolod City where the recently-departed Ka Louie and Coni Ledesma spoke. It was followed by a courtesy call with the then Bacolod bishop. It was in the mid-2000s and I was there to document the activities. It was always at the dela Paz’s that the couple stayed when they are home in the Philippines, both in Metro Manila and Negros, as the Jalandoni ancestral house, Silay’s Pink Mansion, had by then been turned into a museum.

When we arrived at the dela Paz’s, the couple were welcomed by several people bearing dressed native chicken, assorted fruits and alugbati. I don’t think Ka Louie had the chance to look at the gifts as he was immediately mobbed by the women in the crowd. (I was sure Ka Coni didn’t mind.)

“Father!” they exclaimed. “How are you?” To which Ka Louie replied by greeting as many by their names. I realized the well-wishers were welcoming their old priest and nun (Ka Coni) as if they were in the Bacolod Cathedral or in a peasant’s settlement deep in a Negros sugar plantation all those decades ago. All the while, Ka Louie’s signature smile never left his face. He was happy, back with the people for whom he and his wife went to jail for, the people they were forced to leave behind to serve even more people not just in Negros but in the entire country and the world.

Back to the encounter with the greeters. Throughout the meal, the women fussed over Ka Louie, granting his repeated request to join us at the table but their eyes never left Ka Louie as he delighted over his laswa. The rest of us let them be as we devoured the native chicken tinola with delectable gossiping as our side dish.

I was told that the greeters were some of Ka Louie’ personal land reform beneficiaries and the foodstuff they bought were grown at the property he gave them. Their kumustahan lasted long after the meal and was only reluctantly paused when it was getting late. Ka Louie and Ka Connie must have been hammered by then as we had a very early flight that morning.

I was woken up early the next morning by the smell of coffee brewing. Shortly after, Ka Louie came into the dining hall with his smile as bright as the rising sun. It was time for me to fly back to Manila and he bid me goodbye.

As I left, I saw more well-wishers arriving, bearing eggs, chicken, fruits and alugbati.

Black propaganda against Ka Louie’s movement are pegged at alleged “extortion” through so-called revolutionary taxes and permits to campaign. In Ka Louie, I witnessed revolutionaries giving ALL they had to the poor: yaman, dunong, pagod, buhay. And they are very grateful with just a bunch of alugbati in return.

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Author’s note: The photo was the last Ka Louie and I saw each other, in 2019. I think this was also their last trip to the Philippines. This was at the dela Paz’s home in Metro Manila. They (actually Ka Coni) said we must have our photos taken while I autographed my first book that I gave them.