MANILA - Former National Democratic Front (NDF) spokesman and now Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said the rebel movement has a lot to thank the late President Corazon Aquino for.
 
"President Aquino was very instrumental in starting the peace negotiations betweent the government and the NDF. Though this effort failed for many reasons, Cory also took the road for a just and lasting peace at the start of her government," Ocampo said on Monday.
 
Ocampo fondly remembers how, in December 1983, Aquino visited political prisoners of the Marcos regime in the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center in Taguig. It was after her husband, staunch Marcos critic Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was assassinated and she was forced to continue his battles.
 
"On a personal level, I remember her visiting us at Bicutan. We were many there--from the Left, the Light a Fire Movement, and others--and she expressed her solidarity with us and promised to work for the release of political prisoners," said Ocampo.
 
True to her words, Aquino fulfilled her promised in 1986 only days after she was swept to power through the People Power revolution. Ocampo remembers how Aquino released 450 political prisoners despite the strong opposition from the military and even from within the Cabinet.
 
"We should remember that Ninoy was also a political prisoner. She knew what it was like--the harassment, the body searches, and the tortures. When she visited after Ninoy's death, she knew our sentiments," Ocampo said.
 
Ocampo was not among the 450. He had escaped from Bicutan in 1985. As a former official of the National Press Club, he was granted a pass to vote in the National Press Club elections that year. But he was able to slip away from his military guards and return to the underground movement.
 
He resurfaced in 1987 to become the spokesman of the NDF.

Jose Maria Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair and NDF chief political consultant had earlier also recalled his "exceptional" relationship with the late president.  (Read: Joma-Cory had 'exceptional relationship' )