REPRESENTATIVE SATUR OCAMPO
Satur C. Ocampo was born on April 7, 1939 in Sta. Rita, Pampanga to a family of landless tenant farmers.
He is married to Carolina Bobbie Malay, a writer and professor of journalism. He has four children and two grandchildren.
He supported himself through his university education at the Philippine College of Commerce, Manuel L. Quezon University and Lyceum of the Philippines.
In 1963, he worked full-time as a journalist. For seven years, he covered the business beat of the pre-martial law Manila Times.
In the developing political ferment in the 60s, Ocampo began to acquire a comprehensive grasp of the countrys problems as well as its history of struggle.
In 1964, he became a founding member of the militant student-youth organization Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth).
In 1967-68, he was in the National Council of the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN). He was a vice-president of the National Press Club (NPC) in 1970-72.
Martial Law Period
Hunted by the military, he disappeared into the revolutionary underground when Pres. Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on Sept. 21, 1972. In 1973, Ocampo was among the revolutionaries who founded the National Democratic Front, which sought to unite various anti-dictatorship forces.
In 1976, he was arrested, severely tortured and detained for the next 9 years in various prison camps during which he led prison protest actions against torture and other human rights violations. He was tried by a military court for rebellion but was never found guilty. In 1985, while on pass to vote at the National Press Club annual elections, he eluded the soldiers guarding him and rejoined the underground revolutionary movement.
Post-Martial Law
After the dictatorship fell in 1986, and President Corazon Aquino called for peace talks with the NDF, Ocampo headed the NDF peace negotiating panel. He returned to the underground when the talks collapsed due to the killing of 18 farmers at a rally near the Presidential Palace on January 22, 1987.
In 1989, he was rearrested together with his wife. He was freed in 1992, a year after his wife was released, without having been found guilty of any crime.
For the next years, Ocampo worked with peoples organizations in various campaigns. He also wrote columns and commentaries for the Philippine News and Features and several other newspapers.
Parliamentary Struggle
As President of Bayan Muna, he was the partys leading nominee in its first foray into electoral politics in the May 14, 2001 party-list election.
Bayan Muna topped the party-list race with an unprecedented 11.7% of the votes cast, earning it more than the required number of votes for three party-list seats in Congress.
At least two Bayan Muna-sponsored bills, the Overseas Voting Act and Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, have been enacted into law.
In the 12th Congress, Ocampo and Bayan Muna initiated the formation of an alliance, Legislators Against War (LAW), to oppose US aggression in Iraq and worldwide, as well as the Legislators-Businessmen-Peoples Forum (LBPF) to protect Philippine industry and agriculture against the destructive impacts of globalization.
Ocampo was reelected President of Bayan Muna in its third national convention last January 13, 2004 and headed the partys nominees for party list representatives in the May 10, 2004 elections.
Bayan Muna for the second time topped the party-list elections with 10.8% of the votes cast, again securing three seats in Congress.
Ocampo was among the 30 Most Outstanding Congressmen in 2002 and 2003. He currently chairs the House Special Committee on Peace, Unity and Reconciliation. He is also vice chairman of the Human Rights Committee and member of several other committees, such as Appropriations, National Defense, Health, Foreign Affairs, Public Information, Suffrage and Electoral Reforms. (bayanmuna.net)
