Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio Found Guilty of Terror Financing; But Cleared of Weapons Charge

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – On January 22, Community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was acquitted of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. But the Tacloban City regional court convicted her of financing terrorism. The decision drew sharp condemnation from local and international press freedom organizations that described the ruling as a miscarriage of justice and a dangerous precedent for journalism in the Philippines.

Judge Georgina Perez of The Regional Trial Court Branch 45 sentenced Cumpio to 12 to 18 years in prison for terrorism financing, a charge press freedom advocates have long described as fabricated. While the court junked the weapons charges that stemmed from a controversial 2020 raid, it upheld the financing charge based largely on cash allegedly seized during the operation.

Media reports said that security around the courthouse was tight during the promulgation of the judgment, with 197 police personnel deployed inside and outside the Regional Trial Court compound to maintain order.

Cumpio, who turns 27 today, January 23, has been in detention since February 7, 2020, when she was arrested alongside four human rights defenders during a joint police and military raid in Tacloban City. At the time of her arrest, she was the executive director of the alternative community news website Eastern Vista and a radio news anchor at Aksyon Radyo-Tacloban DYVL, where she reported extensively on human rights issues and on issues affecting marginalized communities in Eastern Visayas. Authorities claimed they recovered firearms, explosives, and cash during the raid, allegations that Cumpio and her co-accused immediately denied.

Her case proceeded slowly over the next several years, marked by repeated delays that kept her behind bars while the prosecution presented its witnesses. Press freedom and human rights groups repeatedly raised alarm over her prolonged pretrial detention. Advocates also stressed that the charges against her fit a broader pattern of red-tagging, in which journalists and activists critical of state security forces are labelled as communist or terrorist-linked.

After more than four years in detention, Cumpio finally took the witness stand in November 2024, testifying about the circumstances of the raid and reiterating her claim that the evidence used to justify her arrest had been planted. Her testimony was widely cited by press freedom groups as a key moment in the case, underscoring what they described as glaring inconsistencies in the prosecution’s narrative.

On the day of the verdict, representatives from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), AlterMidya, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Free Press Unlimited were present in court, alongside diplomats from several foreign embassies under the Media Freedom Coalition. Other observers were noted as attending virtually. In a joint statement, RSF and the #FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio coalition said the conviction was “appalling” and exposed the systemic use of anti-terror laws to silence journalists.

RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Advocacy Manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said the ruling showed the Philippine justice system’s “blatant disregard for press freedom,” stressing that the country should be protecting journalists rather than prosecuting and imprisoning them for their work. She renewed calls on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to act decisively to end what RSF described as a fabricated case, warning that the administration risks replicating the record of past governments that failed to uphold press freedom.

The CPJ likewise condemned the verdict, calling the sentence “absurd” and pointing out that Cumpio’s acquittal on the firearms and explosives charges further weakened the basis of the remaining conviction. CPJ said the ruling sends a chilling message to journalists covering politically sensitive issues, particularly those reporting outside Metro Manila.

Cumpio’s case has drawn sustained international attention. UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan had previously expressed concern over her prolonged detention and visited her in prison in January 2024. 

Despite these interventions, the January 22 ruling makes Cumpio one of the first journalists in the Philippines to be convicted under terrorism financing provisions. The Philippines ranked 116th out of 180 countries in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, where press freedom remains classified as “difficult.”