Satur Ocampo: LJM critical but compassionate with Left

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 9 years ago

SATUR OCAMPO Enduring gratitude

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said the Left may have had stark differences with the esteemed Philippine Daily Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, but the tension was doused with their common concern for the welfare of the poor.

Ocampo, a political detainee who went underground during the Marcos dictatorship, visited the wake of Magsanoc, or fondly called LJM, Monday night. He was accompanied by his wife Carolina Malay.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Ocampo recalls his first experience with the Inquirer EIC; he was then a political detainee at the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center after he was arrested in 1976. LJM, then editor for Panorama, and a reporter visited Ocampo in jail. The story, written by Chelo Banal-Formoso, was published in the Inquirer for this year’s Martial law commemoration.

READ: Inside Bicutan in time of worse than cholera

Ocampo said LJM used her connections in the military through Undersecretary for Home Defense Jose M. Crisol, who then managed the detention facilities, to secure an interview with Ocampo and get a glimpse of the poldet’s life.

Ocampo said he was aware LJM had the flame in her to fight for the truth amid suppression and harassment during the Marcos regime. Shortly after Magsanoc was forced to resign from Panorama after writing a critical column on Marcos’ 16-year reign in 1981, Ocampo was able to escape prison in 1985 and join the underground movement.

Since his role in the underground movement, Ocampo then served as a chief negotiator for the National Democratic Front during the Cory Aquino administration, and was elected Bayan Muna representative from 2001 to 2010.

Ocampo said LJM had been critical of the militant party-list’s use of the congressional lump-sum fund, Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel, a source of corruption and a tool for patronage politics, when it first won the party-list elections.

“Although it wasn’t obvious, she encouraged our entry into the electoral arena. While we agreed on many points, she was critical of our subsequent actions, for instance, the issue of availing the pork barrel system,” Ocampo said.

“We have a very intense difference there. Although we managed to report during my first term a complete report on all projects to the PDI, to explain that nothing went to anybody’s pockets,” he added.

Despite the conflict, Ocampo said he respected LJM’s stance that the Left while espousing the “new politics” should rid itself of the emblems of the traditional, corrupt system.

“Letty held a very strong position that us advocates of new politics, a total overhaul of the prevailing political system that is corrupt and dominated by political dynasties, should be very categorical about rejecting all practices that entail the possibilities of corruption. I respect her for that,” Ocampo said.

LJM’s next criticism of the Left came a decade later, when Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza ran for senator after their congressional stint under the ticket of Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential candidate Manny Villar.

The Left was battered with criticisms because running alongside them was Bongbong Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos under whose regime many leftists, including Ocampo, were tortured and some killed.

“In 2010, after my last term and I stood for the senatorial candidacy, we had an alliance with Manny Villar at the Nacionalista Party. That was before the death of Cory Aquino and the emergency of Noynoy as the President,” Ocampo said.

“Again, we had a problem because after we had announced our endorsement of Manny Villar and Loren Legarda ticket, we were also accepted as candidates in the NP and Bongbong Marcos was accepted as another candidate,” he said.

Ocampo said they protested and even threatened to pull out of the NP slate. But some friends talked them over and requested that certain adjustments be made despite their convictions.

Bongbong Marcos, now senator, is vying for Vice President in the 2016 elections.

Ocampo said LJM criticized him anew for allowing himself to run alongside the dictator’s son.

“Letty put a strong exception to the fact that I should not have allowed myself to run alongside the same ticket with Bongbong Marcos,” said Ocampo. He lost the 2010 elections, which also saw the Left’s mortal enemy “The Butcher,” Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan, now in detention as he faces charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of two missing UP students.

READ: ‘Butcher’ back to barracks / Fear in Palparan’s eyes at his arraignment

Although he agreed to run with Marcos, Ocampo said he at one point publicly criticized Marcos during one press conference, particularly on the latter’s stance to bury his father at the “Libingan ng mga Bayani.”

Despite their differences, Ocampo said he recognizes the role of LJM in the fight for press freedom during the oppressive regime.

He said LJM continues to fight for the same ardor years after the Edsa revolt, a peaceful uprising which toppled the dictatorship. The Edsa revolt escalated after the assassination of opposition senator Benigno Aquino Jr., whose wife Cory would later be President. Three administrations later, their son, Benigno III or “Noynoy” also became President.

After LJM was forced to resign from Panorama, she worked as editor of Mr. and Ms. which published a comprehensive coverage of the Aquino assassination and the funeral. Publisher Eugenia “Eggie” Apostol would later fold the magazine and found with LJM the Philippine Daily Inquirer, where LJM served as editor-in-chief starting 1991 until her death.

READ: Magsanoc, who led the Inquirer for 24 years, writes 30

“There are a number of outstanding journalists who have taken a very critical and consistent position against the Marcos dictatorship, and there were of course Letty and Eggy,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo observed that since LJM resigned from Panorama instead of apologizing for her column against Marcos in 1981, “she never looked back.”

“There is no reservation whatsoever about her commitment to democracy, press freedom, and (her position) against human rights violations. She’s consistent with that commitment and inspiration that she provides to younger journalists,” said Ocampo, who himself was a business journalist for the Manila Times before he went underground.

If there is any common ground between LJM and the Left, it was a mutual concern for the welfare of the oppressed and marginalized sectors which comprise the majority of society, Ocampo said.

“Letty is a type of person who has a basic judgement of character. I think she trusts and supports what I’m doing, but she does not hesitate to speak out in criticism when she sees something she does not agree with,” Ocampo said.

“It goes beyond ideological differences. It is the trust and conviction that regardless of ideology, the struggle for the welfare for the poor starts a common call in her heart,” Ocampo added. TVJ