Media and rights groups held a protest action at the Department of Justice on Jan. 21, a day before a regional trial court in Tacloban is set to promulgate charges against community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio.
The groups called for Cumpio’s acquittal and the dismissal of all cases against her, Catholic lay worker Marielle Domiquil, and the other defendants known as the “Tacloban 5.” Cumpio will face the promulgation of two cases on Jan. 22, nearly six years after her arrest.
In a statement, Altermidya Network said Cumpio represented community and alternative media in Eastern Visayas and reported on issues affecting marginalized communities in Samar and Leyte before her arrest in February 2020.
She continued her work with Eastern Vista and as host of the radio program Lingganay Han Kamatuoran “despite repeated harassment, red-tagging, and surveillance,” the group said.
“Six years of detention without conviction is six years too many,” Altermidya said. “Frenchie Mae has paid an unconscionable price simply for doing her work as a journalist.”
The group warned that a conviction would have broader implications for press freedom, saying it would “further entrench the criminalization of journalism, the use of anti-terror laws to silence truth-telling, legitimize prolonged detention as punishment without verdict, and deepen the climate of fear that stifles press freedom and free expression.”
“The Philippines cannot claim to uphold democratic values while allowing journalists to languish in jail for years without conviction,” Altermidya said.
The group added that the continued detention of Cumpio “undermines constitutional guarantees, international human rights obligations, and the public’s right to know.”
As the verdict approached, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also described the case as an example of red-tagging, a practice in which journalists covering sensitive issues are branded as “subversives” or “terrorists.”
RSF said the charges against Cumpio, “illegal possession of firearms” and “terrorism financing,” stem from what it described as a fabricated case aimed at silencing a journalist who reported on alleged abuses by the military and police in Eastern Visayas.
“For nearly six years, Frenchie Mae Cumpio has been languishing in a detention facility, subjected to legal harassment aimed at silencing her, and, by extension, intimidating the entire journalism industry in the Philippines,” said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager at RSF.
“Through her courage and commitment to the right to information, Frenchie Mae has embodied the struggle of news professionals in the Philippines who fight for facts and keep those in power in check,” she added.
RSF said its investigations and evidence presented during the trial pointed to alleged irregularities in the search that led to Cumpio’s arrest and contradictions in witness testimonies.
While the military claimed to have recovered a firearm and a grenade from her home, RSF said the items “may have been planted deliberately.”
The organization noted that several cases filed against Cumpio over the years have since been dismissed, including murder and attempted murder charges and a civil forfeiture case linked to terrorism financing that the Court of Appeals overturned in October 2025 for lack of evidence.
Cumpio testified for the first time in November 2024, nearly five years after her arrest.
In a letter addressed to Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Cumpio wrote: “How do we even combat a well-orchestrated lie? A story that’s so absurd that if this was a class debate, you wouldn’t even try to rebut […] But after my testimony [in court], I realised I still had a lot to say. […] Nonetheless, we hold on.”
Khan, who visited Cumpio in prison in January 2024, later described her prolonged detention as a “travesty of justice,” according to RSF.
RSF said it will monitor the Jan. 22 promulgation as part of the international coalition #FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio and renewed its call for her release.
“This blatant miscarriage of justice can still be rectified,” Bielakowska said. “It is urgent that President Marcos and his government take all necessary measures to ensure her immediate release and end all the proceedings against her. Any conviction at the conclusion of this trial would demonstrate that the authorities’ professed commitment to press freedom is mere lip service.”
