JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said detained Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo could not invoke the amnesty declaration issued by President Corazon Aquino 20 years ago in his bid to be released from jail.

Gonzalez and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Ocampo should show evidence he availed for himself of the amnesty offered in 1987.

Ermita said there is no record of Ocampo applied for amnesty.

"Sa ngayon ang alam ko, hindi, wala kasing matataas na miyembro ng Communist Party of the Philippines ang nag-apply for amnesty," he said.

Gonzalez said he reviewed documents and lists of amnesty beneficiaries and Ocampo’s name was not in them.

Ermita and Gonzalez said the amnesty declared by Arroyo was "not Ermita said if Ocampo did apply, he would not be liable for murder because the crime was committed in pursuit of his political objective.

"Ang nakalagay kasi sa amnesty proclamation, ‘except iyung personal crime.’ Ibig sabihin, ano ba ang personal crime? Kunyari rape, that is personal crime, excluded from the coverage of amnesty. So kung sakaling siya ay nag-apply within that period, at mapatunayan ng abugado nila, baka sila ay covered," he said.

Gonzalez said Ocampo probably did not apply because it would be an admission that he was a member of the communist movement. Ocampo was for a time NDF spokesman.

Gonzalez said the amnesty declaration covered only "persons who have or may have committed any act penalized under existing laws in furtherance of their political beliefs."

"I doubt if he can claim amnesty because to benefit from an amnesty declaration you must formally accept it. If the President grants amnesty, you must apply and accept the amnesty. If you will not acknowledge the crime you cannot benefit from amnesty. This means that he should admit the allegations against him in the nature of a plea of confession," he said.

Earlier, Bayan Muna national vice chair Manuel Loste said Ocampo, CPP founding chair Jose Maria Sison and other political prisoners were covered by Aquino’s amnesty declaration.

Ermita said the administration is open to a possibility of declaring another amnesty. He said the last time this was discussed was in 2006.

"Kapag inaakala natin na merong pagkakataon na makakatulong ang proclamation ng amnesty, e di mag-submit tayo ng recommendation kay Presidente. Sa ngayon it is there, being looked up by OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process)," he said.

Gonzalez challenged Ocampo to produce documents showing he availed of and accepted the amnesty offer.

He said under the Revised Penal Code, a crime prescribes if it a charge was not filed 20 years after it was committed, with the period of reckoning for the prescription starting from the time of the discovery of the crime and not from the time it was committed.

"If you committed a crime in 1985, it was discovered in 2005, then the running of the period is 2005. That’s in the Revised Penal Code. It is only now that some of these skeletons were identified," he said.

Gonzalez was referring to skeletal remains found in a mass grave discovered by the military in Inopacan, Leyte, in August last year.

The remains were said to be of victims of a communist group purge between 1984 and 1991.

Ocampo was charged with 15 counts of murder in connection with the killings. An arrest order was issued two weeks ago by a Leyte court.

Ocampo was arrested Friday last week by the Manila police when he surfaced at the Supreme Court to file a petition seeking to prevent his arrest in connection with the multiple murder charges.

The court scheduled an oral argument on Ocampo’s petition on March 23.

The Office of the Solicitor General, representing the Department of Justice, asked the tribunal court to reset the date for oral arguments and an extension of 15 days within which to file its comments.

Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera said the five-day period given by the court for the OSG to submit its reply to the petition was not enough because the suit raised several factual matters that would require verification from and coordination with other government offices.

"These government offices are located in different places in the country; hence, the difficulty of immediately securing the needed information to enable the respondents to respond intelligently to the petition," Devanadera said.

The Manila Police District on Tuesday imposed a ban on media interviews with Ocampo, who is detained at the mezzanine of the MPD’s criminal investigation and detection unit (CIDU).

The ban stays until after the Supreme Court has ruled on Ocampo’s petition, police said.

Some 300 members of Bayan Muna and other militant groups attempted to get close to the MPD headquarters along UN avenue in Manila but were deterred by the civil disturbance team of the MPD.

The protesters started gathering as early as 10:30 a.m. at Plaza Miranda then marched towards the MPD headquarters.

When they failed to get past the truncheon-clad policemen, they held their program in the streets until around 2 p.m. – Evangeline de Vera and Jocelyn Montemayor