Saturnino "Satur" Cunanan Ocampo (born April 7, 1939) is a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

politician, activist, journalist, and writer. As party president and first nominee, he led the party-list group

Bayan Muna Bayan Muna () is a party-list in the Philippines, a member of the leftist political coalition Makabayan. The motto of the party is ''"New Politics, the Politics of Change"'', against "traditional, elitist, pro-imperialist politics". Its platform i ...

in three successful elections in 2001, 2004, and 2007. He was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, and Deputy Minority Leader in the

14th Congress of the Philippines The 14th Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: ''Ikalabing-apat na Kongreso ng Pilipinas''), composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives, met from July 23, 2007, until June 9, 2010, during the last three years of Gloria Macapa ...

. He has done work in human rights and other areas. After his three terms as representative, he ran for

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the May 2010 elections; then-Representative

Liza Maza Liza Maza (born 8 September 1957) is a Filipina activist who was the lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission under the Duterte administration from August 2016 until her resignation in August 2018. She was a member of the Philippine ...

of the women's partylist group

GABRIELA Gabriela may refer to: * Gabriela (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian feminine given name * ''Gabriela'' (1942 film), a Czech film * ''Gabriela'' (1950 film), a German film * ''Gabriela'' (1983 film), a Brazilian film * ''Gabriela' ...

and Ocampo were fielded by the Makabayan coalition and were included as guest senatorial candidates of the

Nacionalista Party The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ce ...

, a mainstream Philippine political party whose presidential standard bearer, Senator

Manny Villar Manuel "Manny" Bamba Villar Jr. (; born December 13, 1949) is a Filipino billionaire businessman and former politician. He previously served as senator from 2001 to 2013 and as the President of the Senate of the Philippines from 2006 to 2008. ...

, they supported. After the elections, on August 21, 2010, Ocampo started a weekly opinion column in the ''

Philippine Star ''The Philippine Star'' (self-styled ''The Philippine STAR'') is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, M ...

'' titled "At Ground Level".

Activism

Ocampo was a business editor of the pre-martial law ''Manila Times'' and was the founder of the Business and Economic Reporters Association of the Philippines. He is a lifetime member of the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

declared martial law on September 23, 1972, and Ocampo, among others, went underground. In 1973, Ocampo co-founded of the National Democratic Front (NDF), seeking to unite various anti-dictatorship forces. In 1976, he was arrested and incarcerated as a political prisoner. For the next nine years he was severely tortured in various prison camps. At one point, he shared a cell with detained ''

Philippine Collegian The ''Philippine Collegian'' is the official weekly student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman. It is also commonly known to the university's students as ''Kulê'' (). It is known for its radical, national democratic, often ...

'' editor-in-chief

Abraham Sarmiento, Jr. Abraham "Ditto" P. Sarmiento Jr. (June 5, 1950 – November 11, 1977) was a Filipino student journalist who gained prominence as an early and visible critic of the martial law regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. As editor-in-chief of the ''Philip ...

Though tried by a military court for rebellion, he was never found guilty. In 1985, while on pass to vote at the National Press Club annual elections, he escaped from the soldiers guarding him and rejoined the underground revolutionary movement. At the time of his escape, Ocampo was the longest-held political prisoner in the country. After the dictatorship fell in 1986, President

Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...

called for peace talks with the communists. Ocampo headed the peace negotiating panel of the NDF, which represents the

Communist Party of the Philippines The Communist Party of the Philippines ( fil, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a far-left, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is desi ...

and the

New People's Army The New People's Army ( fil, Bagong Hukbong Bayan), abbreviated NPA or BHB, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), based primarily in the Philippine countryside. It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aimi ...

. When the talks collapsed due to the killing of 18 farmers at a rally near the Malacañan Palace on January 22, 1987, Ocampo returned to the underground. In 1989, he was rearrested together with his wife, Carolina Malay. Three years later in 1992, a year after his wife was released, he was freed. Neither was found guilty of any crime. On November 28, 2018, Ocampo,

Alliance of Concerned Teachers The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT-Teachers) is a progressive and militant national democratic mass organization of teachers, academics, and other education workers in the Philippines, established on June 26, 1982. It is the largest non-tr ...

Rep. France Castro and over 70 others were arrested on allegations of kidnapping and human trafficking charges over the transport of

Lumad The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

minors from the town of Talaingod, Davao Del Norte. Ocampo's group was released after posting bail of PHP80,000.00 each.LOOK: Satur Ocampo, lawmaker charged with kidnapping, human trafficking
- ABS-CBN News

References

External links

Satur Ocampo official profile
from the

House of Representatives of the Philippines The House of Representatives of the Philippines ( fil, Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas, italic=unset, ''Kamara'' or ''Kamara de Representantes'' from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''cámara'', meaning "chamber") is the lower house ...

Satur Ocampo official profile
from the Bayan Muna website
Bayan Muna
- official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocampo, Satur Filipino journalists Filipino activists Filipino Roman Catholics Kapampangan people People from Pampanga Business and financial journalists 1939 births Living people Nacionalista Party politicians Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines for Bayan Muna Polytechnic University of the Philippines alumni The Philippine Star people Torture_victims Marcos martial law victims