{{Short description|Filipino activist (1938–2023)}} {{Philippine name|San Luis|Tadeo}} {{Use Philippine English|date=March 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | name = Jaime Tadeo | image = Jaime Tadeo from the Constitutional Commission (1986).jpg | caption = Tadeo from the ''Official Directory of the Constitutional Commission'', {{circa|1986}} | title1 = Chairperson of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas | term_start1 = July 24, 1985 | term_end1 = October 22, 1993 | predecessor1 = Position established | successor1 = Rafael V. Mariano | title2 = Member of the Philippine Constitutional Commission | president2 = Corazon Aquino | term_start2 = June 2, 1986 | term_end2 = October 15, 1986 | birth_date = {{Birth date |1938|3|28|mf=y}} | birth_place = Bocaue, Bulacan, Commonwealth of the Philippines | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|3|26|1938|3|28}} | party = Partido ng Bayan (1987) | spouse = Cresencia Bernardino | children = 5 | parents = | occupation = Activist | profession = Farmer | nickname = Ka Jimmy }} '''Jaime''' "'''Ka Jimmy'''" '''San Luis Tadeo''' (March 28, 1938 – March 26, 2023) was a Filipino peasant activist and organic farmer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Mayuga|first=Jonathan L.|date=October 8, 2015|title=When men wore 'bakya': 'Ka' Jimmy recalls how life was as a farmer in Bulacan when he was 25 {{!}} Jonathan L. Mayuga|url=https://businessmirror.com.ph/2015/10/08/when-men-wore-bakya-ka-jimmy-recalls-how-life-was-as-a-farmer-in-bulacan-when-he-was-25/|access-date=April 1, 2021|website=BusinessMirror|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">"Jaime Tadeo." EDSA Stories. Focus on the Global South-Philippines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0CFAiP1zV8</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Mundo|first=Fernando del|date=December 24, 2012|title=He wanted land for farmers but got Muntinlupa instead|url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/329489/he-wanted-land-for-farmers-but-got-muntinlupa-instead|access-date=April 1, 2021|website=INQUIRER.net|language=en}}</ref>

== Biography == Tadeo was born in Bocaue, Bulacan.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{cite book |date=1986 |title=Official Directory of the Constitutional Commission 1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSQcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 |page=113 |access-date=August 25, 2022}}</ref> He obtained a bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Araneta University in 1960 and worked in various government agencies from 1962 to 1981.<ref name=":4" />

Tadeo was formerly one of the leaders of the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (the KMP, or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), formed at the outset of the 1986 People Power Revolution in order to push for agrarian reform.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bello|first1=Walden|title=The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines.|last2=De Guzman, M.|publisher=Zed Books|year=2006|chapter=Agrarian Reform: The Promise and the Reality}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Fuller|first=Ken|title=The Lost Vision: The Philippine Left 1986-2010|publisher=University of the Philippines Press|year=2015}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Putzel|first=James|title=A Captive Land: The Politics of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines|publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press|year=1992|location=Quezon City}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Magadia|first=J.|title=State-Society Dynamics: Policy Making in a Restored Democracy|publisher=Ateneo de Manila University Press|year=2003|location=Quezon City|pages=43–92|chapter=Agrarian Reform and a Strong Civil Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=July–December 1989|title=Agrarian Reform and the External Debt: Pressing Issues|url=https://pssc.org.ph/wp-content/pssc-ssi/1989/Volume%2017%20Numbers%203-4/Agrarian%20Reform%20and%20the%20External%20Debt_%20Pressing%20Issues.pdf|journal=Social Science Information|volume=17}}</ref> Shortly after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, Tadeo was appointed to be part of the 1986 Constitutional Commission where he was the sole peasant representative.<ref name=":1" />

In January 1987, Tadeo figured prominently in the demonstrations which led to the Mendiola massacre, a violent dispersal of peasants, workers, and students by state security forces which left 13 dead.<ref name=":0" /><ref>(Jan 27, 1987). Marines open fire on peasant union march as it crosses Mendiola Bridge killing 12 and wounding 106. GS28018721. Associated Press. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xxZMjmf2KA</ref> According to Tadeo, most of the 13 were part of a "composite team" purposely put to protect him from gunfire.<ref name=":2" />

In 1990, Tadeo was arrested and sentenced to a maximum of 18 years in prison at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa for committing estafa,<ref name="MSLanuza"/> which supporters claim was due to his outspoken criticism of Corazon Aquino's executive order on agrarian reform.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=September 6, 2016|title=The framing of Jaime Tadeo|url=https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/framing-jaime-tadeo|access-date=April 1, 2021|website=Green Left|language=en}}</ref> Asked about his views on the president, he remarked that she "[was] running the country like her own ''hacienda,''" and retorted "I asked Cory Aquino for land for the peasants and she gave me 'Muntinlupa' (in Tagalog, 'tiny piece of land')."<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> Tadeo's sentence was commuted after three years, and he was released on parole on August 6, 1993 after submitting a release application to the Department of Justice's Board of Pardons and Parole. President Fidel V. Ramos stated that Tadeo's release could benefit the national peace and reconciliation program under his administration.<ref name="MSLanuza">{{cite news|last=Lanuza|first=Angelo|title=Tadeo freed|work=Manila Standard|publisher=Kamahalan Publishing Corp.|date=August 7, 1993|page=3|quote=Tadeo[...] was originally sentenced to a maximum of 18 years for the crime estafa.}}</ref>

Tadeo, along with other peasant activists, split from the KMP to form Demokratikong Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (DKMP) during the height of ideological disagreements within the national democratic movement in 1993.<ref>{{citation |last=Gershman|first=John|title=Debates on the Philippine Left |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/2963.html | access-date = February 3, 2026}}</ref>

In his later years, Tadeo led Paragos-Pilipinas, a small group of Bulakenyo and Central Luzon farmers.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 14, 2019|title=Geraldine Roman takes a snap with Jimmy Tadeo {{!}} Politiko Central Luzon|url=https://centralluzon.politics.com.ph/geraldine-roman-takes-a-snap-with-jimmy-tadeo/|access-date=April 1, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Purugganan|first=Joseph|date=November 26, 2019|title=Farmers demand government to repeal Rice Liberalization Law - Focus on the Global South|url=https://focusweb.org/farmers-demand-government-to-repeal-rice-liberalization-law/|access-date=April 1, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> He supported the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) filed in Congress by Rep. Rafael Mariano, a former KMP colleague, in 2018.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Bolledo |first=Jairo |date=March 26, 2023 |title=Jimmy Tadeo, peasant leader and 1987 Constitution framer, dies |url=https://www.rappler.com/philippines/jaime-tadeo-death-obituary/ |access-date=March 27, 2023 |website=Rappler |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Death and legacy == Tadeo died on March 26, 2023, two days before his 85th birthday.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Subingsubing |first=Krixia |date=March 27, 2023 |title=Jaime Tadeo, agrarian reform advocate; 84 |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1748466/jaime-tadeo-agrarian-reform-advocate-84 |access-date=March 27, 2023 |website=Philippine Daily Inquirer |language=en}}</ref>

Scholar James Putzel took the title of his 1992 book, ''A Captive Land: The Politics of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines'' on the history of land reform in the Philippines and the United States' role in it, from Tadeo's remark that the Philippines is a "foreign dominated economy," captive to American interests.<ref name=":1" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tadeo, Jaime}} Category:1938 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century Filipino people Category:21st-century Filipino people Category:Farmers' rights activists Category:Filipino activists Category:Members of the Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986 Category:People from Bulacan Category:Recipients of Philippine presidential pardons