BY TERENCE KRISHNA LOPEZ
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 13 May 6- 12, 2007

The thing with Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo or Ka Satur to his close friends, allies and comrades is that he wears this face that could look like a snob at one angle or very friendly in another. If there is one thing I learned with my encounter with Ka Satur in Cebu City though is that one should never take this controversial lawmaker at face value.

Now, let me tell you my story.

Well, it wasn’t really a day alone with Ka Satur. In fact, I didn’t even have five minutes alone with him to ask questions. It was actually at the Bayan Muna Provincial Convention in Cebu last April 30 that I got to be with him. I managed to sit beside him, albeit with other friends, after the convention and had a great conversation over peanuts, calamares and beer.

For the first time, I saw the man up close and personal as he talked about his celebrated arrest recently, the SWS survey, his CEGP (College Editors Guild of the Philippines) days among others.

Ka Satur smiled, laughed a lot and gamely posed for the camera every time someone wants to take a photo of him or with him. This was a side of him I didn’t see before. Well, I always pictured the man as the grim and determined lawmaker; someone who doesn’t have time for petty conversations or small talk at hotel corners.

It was when he was told I was with the CEGP that he shared his days with the guild and named his batch-mates and shared anecdotes about it.

He also shared to us his ordeal, when he was detained recently and how it pretty much affected his family emotionally.

He also explained his point of view regarding the erratic survey results on party-list ratings. Well, it can be remembered that the latest survey results from the Social Weather Station showed how Bayan Muna went down to ten point something percent from an overwhelming 28 percent. He said it could never have that big a difference in so short a time.

Accidentally, a group of college students passed by where we were sitting and it was funny. Picture this: one will stop, look at Ka Satur , shyly looks down, turns to another and whisper something which obviously was “Hey, it’s Satur Ocampo then walks away.

Earlier in the day, as he entered the hotel lobby, waiters turned and whispered to each other about him. I heard one saying to his companion, “Isn’t he the representative from this Party-list Bayan Muna?”

I honestly observed the look from the people who recognized him- they all wore this smile in their eyes and yet lacked enough courage to smile directly at him, wave or ask him for an autograph. But I bet, they were all eager to tell their friends and relatives, “I saw Ka Satur! “

My day with Ka Satur ended when the multi-party meeting de avance in Cebu city. It was where all the progressive and militant party-list groups in Cebu converged. Ka Satur gave, as usual, a moving speech.

It wasn’t really what transcribed during that day with Rep. Satur Ocampo that matters much to me. It was more of the fact that I was allowed to take a glimpse of his world and finally saw him beyond the grim and determined image pasted on my memories.

Honestly, I used to think the man was a snob. Yes, I thought he was not someone I can have a light and easy conversation with. I thought he was like others of his stature, high and mighty.

Last April 30, in one day, I realized that my first impression of him was wrong. And I will never forget the day that I shared a light moment with Ka Satur. Terence Krishna Lopez/Posted by (Bulatlat.com)

 Save as PDF