“I am not a terrorist,” declared Luis G. Jalandoni, upon learning of his designation as a terrorist by the Duterte government’s ‘Anti-Terrorism Council’. He added, “I have worked for more than three decades for a just and lasting peace in the Philippines.” Jalandoni is a Senior Adviser of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel in peace talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. Prior to 2016, he served as Chairperson of the NDFP peace panel for more than 20 years.

The ‘Anti-Terrorism Council’ issued its Resolution No. 31 dated 25 May 2022, but publicly released only on 15 June, labelling Jalandoni and five others as “terrorist individuals” for allegedly being leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the NDFP.

CPP Chief Information Officer Marco Valbuena said, “The Party and the revolutionary movement firmly denounces the shameless, baseless and outrageous claim… It was made without basis and cites no specific judicable facts. It aims to slander them and restrict their democratic rights.”

Valbuena declared, “It is the US-supported Philippine reactionary state that is, in fact, the biggest terrorist… Its armed forces and police carry out extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, hamletting of communities, imposing curfews, food blockades and conducting aerial bombing, strafing and shelling of civilian communities.”