The IPI global network today calls for the immediate release of Philippine journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been unjustly held in pretrial detention for more than 5 years. We also demand that unfounded charges against Cumpio be dropped and that all legal proceedings against her be immediately concluded.
Cumpio, executive director and investigative reporter of alternative news organization Eastern Vista, was arrested on February 7, 2020, on charges of alleged illegal arms possession and terrorism financing. She denies these charges. She often covered human rights abuses by police and state security prior to her arrest.
The next court hearing for her case is on July 7. If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison.
She has been held in pretrial detention for more than 5 years in the Tacloban City Jail. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, in 2024 denounced the journalist’s “unjustifiably long pre-trial detention” and called for the prompt resolution of her case. Prior to her arrest, Cumpio was a target of “red-tagging” – or the practice of labeling individuals or organizations as communist sympathizers or terrorists without substantial evidence – as well as surveillance, intimidation and harassment, ” according to the Special Rapporteur’s report.
A coalition of press freedom organizations recently tried to visit Cumpio but were refused access.
“Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio has been unjustly held in pretrial detention for more than five years, which is an egregious violation of due process — and is clearly aimed at silencing her work”, Amy Brouillette, IPI Director of Advocacy, said. “We urge authorities to uphold their obligations to respect freedom of the press and basic due process rights. She must be immediately released as awaits her next trial date.”
Although the number of journalists’ killings have decreased since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was elected in 2022, attacks on media freedom under the previous Rodrigo Duterte’s administration have continued. ABS-CBN, the most influential national media conglomerate in the Philippines, was ordered to shut down in May 2020 and has yet to be reinstated as a national corporation under Marcos. Meanwhile, Maria Ressa, IPI board member and Nobel Laureate, faced at one stage up to 100 years in prison following her vocal criticism of Duterte’s administration. Ressa was acquitted of five fabricated tax evasion charges in September 2023, and also acquitted this week on trumped up charges of violating the constitutional ban against foreign ownership of media. However she still faces up to six years and nine months in prison from a 2020 criminal cyber libel conviction, which remains under final appeal before the Philippine Supreme Court.