Since Feb. 27, Ocampo and Reps. Joel Virador and Teodoro Casino of Bayan Muna, Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis and Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party have been under the protective custody of the Lower House against threats of illegal arrest by the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Ocampo was awaiting news on whether he would be allowed by the Court of Appeals to go home to their families, or they shall remain in the House for still an indeterminate period of time.

On April 6, the so-called "Batasan 5" filed through their lawyers a petition for certiorari with prohibition with the appelate court. They asked the CA to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Department of Justice and the PNP, to desist from arresting them without a warrant duly issued by a court.

Ocampo said the thought that he would not be able to leave the House during the Holy Week brought him "a deep sense of sadness."

"What saddens me is the thought that I wouldn’t be able to see my mother, all of 95 years now. I will not be able to comfort her with the assurance that I am okay, and that her brood of 12 children, all living, would become whole one more time: Within view of her failing sight, her hearing our familiar voices that are music to her, as she gives us her tender loving caresses and blessing," Ocampo said.

He added: "I am, after all these 67 years of my life, a son with a strong impulse to go back to my mother’s bosom that had nursed me as a baby. I yearn to sit by my mother’s side and listen to her again talk of the years gone by in those vast expanse of rice fields where I grew up as a farm boy. She would muse always with an infectious mirthfulness that never fades. At 95, my mother is ever youthful-sounding and youthful-feeling in her reveries."

The foregoing were included in Ocampo’s first blog entry in the "Blogosphere," a free personalized website in the internet where the "Batasan 5" and detained Rep. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis claimed to have brought their campaign against President Arroyo’s "campaign of political repression."

In his first blog entry, Ocampo shares how much he misses his mother, Cecilia Cunanan Ocampo, whom his entire family visits at this time of the year in their hometown of Sta. Rita, Pampanga. The Bayan Muna solon is among 12 Ocampo siblings.

Hosted by free blog provider Blogger, the blog could be read at and currently includes FAQs (frequently asked questions) and basic materials on the "Batasan 5 and Beltran. They also opened a Flickr photo account for their photos, with active links to the blog.

According to Ocampo, the blog is their opening to both local and international audiences, especially the growing number of middle-class "bloggers."

Being a "blogger" is new to Ocampo, who was assistant business editor of the Manila Times before martial law. He was also former president of the Business and Economy Reporters Association of the Philippines and vice president of the National Press Club.

Casiño, who at 37 is the youngest among the "Batasan 5", said in his first blog entry: "Now we run to that other bastion of democracy — cyberspace. Here we can cross not just the Batasan gates but entire continents and oceans (with a single click of a mouse!)."

Casiño was also a journalist. He was a president of the College Editors Guild ofthe Philippines and a former columnist of the BusinessWorld and other publications.

Beltran, who remains incarcerated at Camp Crame even without a judicial order on his custody by the PNP, is expected to publish his blog entries through his congressional staff.

His first blog entry is a transcript of an short audio interview played to the "Hangad ay Kalayaan" concert held last Saturday, April 1, at Freedom Bar in Quezon City.