Satur Ocampo.
Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna president, interviewed
by Reihana Mohideen
August 11,
2010 -- Some 1205 extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary killings, largely political activists and journalists,
took place under the government of former Philippines president Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, according to the human rights organisation Karapatan. In the
few weeks since the June 30 inauguration of the new president Benigno “Noynoy”
Aquino III, six extrajudicial killings have taken place, three being members of
organisations aligned with the Bayan Muna (Country First) party.
Bayan Muna is
an electoral formation and Satur Ocampo
is its president. Ocampo is a former member of the Philippines Congress
representing Bayan Muna, when Bayan Muna topped the 2001 and 2004 party list elections
(the system of proportional representation for the marginalised sectors). Ocampo
headed the peace negotiations panel of the National Democratic Front, allied
with the Communist Party of the Philippines–New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), after
the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.