đź“·: Karapatan | FB
by Diego Morra
A Tacloban City court has convicted community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her co-accused Marielle Domequil of financing terrorism on Jan. 22, 2026 even as it surprisingly acquitted them of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, proving accusations by press groups and human rights organizations that the pieces of evidence produced by prosecutors were fabricated.
In the words of grizzled court reporters, Cumpio and Domequil were “tinabla” using the much-maligned Anti-Terrorism Financing Act and its companion, the Anti-Terrorism Act that could not quite define what it means by “terrorism,” a dirty word that could hardly apply to the acts committed by revolutionary forces in the pursuit of their political program. Under the Hernandez doctrine that was cited in a recent case, alleged crimes committed in furtherance of such program are subsumed by the rebellion and cannot be lodged separately.
The cases filed against Cumpio, Domequil and the rest of the Tacloban 5 appear to be part of the legal stratagem to file shotgun charges in the hope of winning convictions for crimes with the lightest penalties. Judge Georgina Perez, the presiding judge of Tacloban Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 45, sentenced the two to a prison term ranging from 12 to 18 years after already being incarcerated for five years. The decision shocked Cumpio’s family as it came on the eve of her 27th birthday. Defense lawyer Norberto Palomino said they would appeal the conviction within the 15-day reglementary period and seek bail for Cumpio’s temporary liberty.
Cumpio used to be the executive director of the community media outfit Eastern Vista. She was arrested in a joint police and military operation that authorities claimed uncovered firearms and explosives in a supposed safehouse. Human rights advocates led by Karapatan said the Cumpio and Domequil’s acquittal on weapons charges proved that the military and police planted evidence and manufactured the myth that the money of the media outfit and other groups was intended to finance guerrillas operating hundreds of kilometers away,
In a statement, Altermidya also slammed the conviction of Cumpio and Domequil on terrorism financing charges. “We strongly condemn the guilty verdict against our colleague, Frenchie Mae Cumpio. While she was acquitted of charges related to the illegal possession of firearms and explosives, it is deplorable that she was convicted of a terrorism financing charge. We are outraged by the clear injustice of the court decision amid glaring evidence that the charges against Frenchie Mae, Marielle Domequil, and the rest of Tacloban 5 are all fabricated,” the alternative media outlet stressed.
“The decision is a grave injustice and is a serious peril to the already dire state of press freedom and free expression in the Philippines. The conviction has far-reaching consequences beyond Frenchie Mae. It deepens the climate of impunity in the country and sends a chilling message to journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens that free expression comes at a heavy cost,” Altermidya said. “The decision also affirms the duplicity of the Marcos Jr. administration, which has made repeated commitments to uphold press freedom and fundamental rights, but instead continues to be instrumental in weaponizing the law against journalists and dissenting voices.”
Foreign groups supporting besieged Gaza journalists, the repressed reporters and columnists in Russia and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also expressed dismay with the conviction of Cumpio and Domequil. They all demanded that Cumpio, who has now become the face of press repression in the Philippines, be released from prison and the unjust terrorism financing conviction be overturned. “Frenchie Mae has endured so much in the last six years in detention. She should not be in jail a day longer. We demand accountability for this miscarriage of justice. We demand a reversal of this unjust decision and an end to the harassment and prosecution of journalists and rights defenders,” Altermidya concluded.
Media organizations, press freedom advocates, and human rights groups have consistently maintained that the charges against Cumpio were fabricated, citing alleged irregularities in the search and seizure operations and pointing to her work as a community journalist critical of government policies. In fact, insisted journalists who have covered court cases for decades, Cumpio was targeted for punishment for running stories critical of government bureaucrats and military operations targeting rural communities in the aftermath of the issuance Memorandum Circular No. 32 by the unlamented president Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 that poured thousands of soldiers and police in Eastern Visayas, Negros and Bicol to operate against the mass bases of the New People’s Army (NPA).
