{"id":12701,"date":"2026-02-20T06:55:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T05:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/?p=12701"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:41:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:41:31","slug":"frenchie-mae-cumpio-first-philippine-journalist-convicted-of-terrorism-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/frenchie-mae-cumpio-first-philippine-journalist-convicted-of-terrorism-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"Frenchie Mae Cumpio, first Philippine journalist convicted of terrorism financing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was convicted<\/a> of \u201cfinancing terrorism\u201d on January 22, 2026, alongside her co-accused Marielle Domequil, a lay worker for a church-based organization, in a ruling that could send both women to prison for 12 to 18 years and impose<\/a> fines of up to 500,000 Pesos.<\/p>\n

Arrested<\/a> on what rights advocates describe as trumped-up charges in 2020, the two were also acquitted<\/a> of separate allegations involving illegal possession of firearms and explosives.<\/p>\n

Cumpio worked<\/a> as a community journalist and radio broadcaster in Leyte before her arrest. She is the first Filipino reporter charged<\/a> under terrorism financing laws, which, according to defense lawyer Julianne Agpalo, the Philippine government has increasingly used<\/a> to stifle dissent.<\/p>\n

Bi Lih Yi, Asia Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, believes<\/a> that Cumpio\u2019s conviction sends a chilling effect not only among journalists in the Philippines but also worldwide. \u201cIt has far-reaching implications because of the trend of using terrorism charges to go after journalists in autocratic countries like Russia, Myanmar using such absurd and ridiculous charges to go after journalists,\u201d she added<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yi called<\/a> the ruling \u201cappalling and absurd,\u201d saying it amounted to a grave injustice and exposed how state authorities can be wielded to silence journalists who challenge government policies.<\/p>\n

The Tacloban Regional Trial Court\u2019s decision relied<\/a> heavily on the testimonies of four former New People\u2019s Army (NPA) members, including Alma Gabin, who also testified<\/a> in a separate terrorism-financing case against development worker Jazmin Aguisanda-Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Aguisanda-Jerusalem said<\/a> both her case and that of the Leyte Center for Development (LCDe) similarly proceeded<\/a> on the basis of affidavits and allegations alone, without any material or financial evidence. She contended<\/a> that testimonies from rebel returnees and military witnesses were fabricated<\/a> and fell short of the standards required for terrorism-financing charges. She also stressed<\/a> that LCDe\u2019s decades of humanitarian work in conflict-affected communities have been wrongly characterized as insurgent-linked activity, despite its long-standing cooperation with local governments.<\/p>\n

Aguisanda-Jerusalem condemned<\/a> what she described as the misuse of counterterrorism laws against civil society groups and voiced<\/a> concern over the convictions of Marielle Domequil and Frenchie Mae Cumpio.<\/p>\n

Domequil and Cumpio were convicted<\/a> based on the testimonies of four alleged rebel returnees who claimed<\/a> that they saw them in Samar receiving and turning over P100,000 in cash allegedly meant to fund the New People\u2019s Army (NPA).<\/p>\n

Judge Georgina Perez rejected<\/a> the defendants\u2019 evidence, including social media activity logs, for not proving their precise location.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeals (CA) overturned<\/a> the decision last year, ruling<\/a> there was no evidence linking the 557,360 Pesos found in their apartment to terrorism. Testimonies alone were deemed<\/a> insufficient, and the CA emphasized<\/a> that Cumpio and Domequil were not legally designated terrorists. Funds were explained<\/a> as donations for humanitarian work through \u201cStand with Leyte and Samar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Perez had relied<\/a> on Duterte\u2019s 2017 proclamation designating the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing NPA as a terrorist group, even though the alleged financing occurred<\/a> in 2019, before the 2020 anti-terror law.<\/p>\n

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) called<\/a> the verdict as unjust, pointing out that the Court of Appeals had overturned the seizure of money from their arrest. The charges are fabricated, based on a dubious arrest and unreliable witnesses, said<\/a> the NUJP in a statement.<\/p>\n

Human rights organizations say<\/a> the case reflects a broader pattern of so-called \u201cred-tagging,\u201d in which journalists and civil society workers or organizations are labeled as communist sympathizers or members of the NPA to justify surveillance, arrests, or prosecution.<\/p>\n

The conviction has triggered<\/a> ninety-two media organizations and press freedom groups from around the world, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a coalition of human rights NGOs, to write<\/a> a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., urging him to intervene and secure Cumpio\u2019s immediate release.<\/p>\n

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan pointed<\/a> out in a statement that the arrest and criminal charges, following months of \u201cred-tagging,\u201d surveillance, intimidation, and harassment, appear to have been filed in retaliation for Cumpio\u2019s work as a journalist.<\/p>\n

Cumpio\u2019s lawyers applied<\/a> for bail and appealed the January 22, 2026 court ruling, arguing that bail is discretionary since the offense is not punishable by life imprisonment and that the case relied<\/a> solely on uncorroborated testimonial evidence. On February 16, 2026, the Tacloban court rejected<\/a> the bail application, ruling that there was \u201cno strong or compelling reason\u201d to grant bail and that temporary freedom could increase the \u201crisk of evasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo \u00a9 Karapatan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was convicted of \u201cfinancing terrorism\u201d on January 22, 2026, alongside her co-accused Marielle Domequil, a lay worker for a church-based organization, in a ruling that could send both women to prison for 12 to 18 years and impose fines of up to 500,000 Pesos. Arrested on what rights advocates describe as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,61,63,58,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuelles-en","category-freedom-of-press","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12701"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12733,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12701\/revisions\/12733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}