Lawyers representing community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and church worker Marielle Domequil have asked the Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling denying their bail pending appeal.
The counsels argued that their terrorism financing conviction was based on “grave errors” and speculative national security claims.
In a petition for certiorari filed before the appellate court in Cebu City, the defense said Tacloban Regional Trial Court Branch 45 committed “grave abuse of discretion” in refusing post-conviction bail despite what it described as the absence of circumstances showing flight risk or danger to public safety.
The petition also questioned the RTC’s reliance on broad allegations linking the two women to “various organizations” and cited earlier appellate findings that found insufficient evidence connecting seized funds to terrorism financing.
The petition named Judge Georgina Uy Perez, presiding judge of RTC Tacloban Branch 45, as respondent in her official capacity.
Cumpio, executive director of alternative news outlet Eastern Vista, and Domequil, a lay worker of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, were convicted in January 2026 for violating Section 8 of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.
The RTC sentenced the two to prison terms ranging from 12 years and five months to 18 years and eight months.
In denying the bail motion, the RTC said the gravity of the offense raised concerns that the accused could continue supporting “terrorist organizations” if released.
“The seriousness of the offense for which the accused were convicted, raises concern regarding the potential for them to continue to provide support – whether financial, logistical or operational, to terrorist organizations, if they are released on bail,” the RTC order quoted in the petition stated.
But the defense argued that the ruling relied on “generalization rather than evidence.”
“Respondent Judge’s sweeping invocation of ‘national security,’ without concrete and specific factual support showing how exactly herein petitioners would endanger and violate such policy, effectively reduces the court’s determination of the propriety of a grant of bail post-conviction to one grounded on generalization rather than evidence,” the petition stated.
The petition also challenged the RTC’s conclusion that the petitioners posed a flight risk because of the severity of the sentence and their alleged ties to “various organizations.”
According to the filing, both women actively participated in court proceedings since their arrest in February 2020 and had no record of escape or violence while in detention.
The defense also cited a 2025 Court of Appeals decision reversing the forfeiture of more than P557,000 seized during the police raid that led to their arrest, ruling that authorities failed to establish links between the funds and terrorism financing.
“A careful review of the evidence at hand, moreover, reveals that there is a dearth of reason to believe that the respondents-appellants were or are connected to the CPP-NPA,” the appellate court ruling quoted in the petition said.
The filing also pointed to international concern over the case, including a June 2025 report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, who said it illustrated “the human toll of red-tagging on those who are targeted and the flawed process that leaves them with little recourse.”
It also noted that the International Women’s Media Foundation named Cumpio the recipient of the 2026 Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award while she remained in detention.
Cumpio and Domequil are currently detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City while appealing their conviction.
