A BJMP investigating officer receives Altermidya complaint against harassments on journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio. (Altermidya photo)
Detained journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio is suffering harassments from the warden of the Tacloban City Jail Female Dormitory, the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) complained.
In a letter to Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) director general Ruel Rivera, Altermidya said Cumpio is being denied prompt medical care, among other complaints, by jail inspector Eva Naputo.
Altermidya formally filed a letter complaint to the BJMP and the Commission on Human Rights today, saying Naputo “display[ed] abusive behavior towards persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) under her supervision.”
Included in the complaint is senior jail officer Dalmacio C. Canayong Jr, the jail facility’s chief unit intelligence officer.
Altermidya said Naputo caused “unjust delay and inaction” to requests for medical check-ups by Cumpio and her co-accused Marielle Domequil.
“Both PDLs continue to face unresolved medical concerns more than a month after submitting their requests. Warden Naputo allowed a so-called online medical consultation, but only assigned the jail nurse to talk to the doctor,” Altermidya’s complaint letter states.
“Frenchie and Marielle were not even given the opportunity to have an actual consultation, whether through online or physical check-up, despite repeated subsequent requests,” the media group’s chairperson and Kodao editor Raymund Villanueva said.
The complaint added that Naputo and Canayong also violate Cumpio’s right to privately confer with her lawyers and allowing jail officials to take photos of written communication and documents handed to her by her visiting counsels.
Altermidya also wrote that personal letters addressed to Cumpio and Domequil from their friends were read by the jailguards and in many instances were not handed to them.
“SJ01 Canayong reportedly unilaterally ruled that letters beyond ‘the usual greetings’ should not be delivered,” it wrote.
Altermidya added that the processing of consent forms for trial monitoring for Marielle and Frenchie has been significantly delayed due to the warden’s slow approval.
Visits by local and international media groups as well as the diplomatic community to Cumpio have been steadily increasing after her imprisonment has become of the most controversial cases of press freedom violations worldwide.
Cumpio, Domequil, as well as fellow Tacloban 5 arrestee Alexander Abinguna have also figured prominently in a June report to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council by special rapporteur Irene Khan who paid the three a visit in January 2024.
Visits by diplomats and international media representatives remain difficult despite internationalattention due to “unjust delay or denial of requests for prison visits,” Altermidya said.
“When the June 26 visit of Dutch deputy ambassador Robert van der Hum did get approved, the warden arbitrarily suspended visitation for the whole day – denying the right of other PDLs for visits from lawyers and family,” the group revealed.
Altermidya also told Rivera that such “repressive actions and arbitrary decisions” by Naputo and Canayong also affect other inmates, including:
- The Tacloban City Jail is the only known jail facility in the region with no regular Family Day. The other facilities usually assign either Saturday or Sunday as Family Day. During the last family day, the warden arbitrarily moved the schedule an hour later, forcing the relatives to wait outside the facility under extreme heat.
- Absence of a weekly dialogue with the warden: most concerns are communicated through other jail officers and staff. Naputo rarely speaks directly to the PDLs.
- No action has been made regarding requests to repair the facility’s dilapidated roof, which has been causing leaks since November 2024
- Questionable monetary contributions from PDLs: expenses like printing of taurpalins are passed on to the PDLs. In May 2025, the warden asked the PDLs to share a portion of the cost of meals for an activity (Tesda graduation) – but they eventually shouldered the full expense. Naputo also made remarks implying that repairs (such as the leaking roof) should be shouldered by PDLs.
Altermidya urged the BJMP to investigate both jail officials, reminding Rivera to abide by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Nelson Mandela Rules.
“If found true, we hope that just action is imposed on J/Insp Naputo and SJ01 Canayong, and that a pro-PDL management that listens and cares for the welfare of the detainees is installed,” Villanueva said. | via KODAO PRODUCTIONS
