Philippine court sentences journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to up to 18 years

A Regional Trial Court in Tacloban City on Thursday convicted journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her former roommate Marielle Dumaquil (reported as Domequil in a photo caption) of financing terrorism and sentenced them to 12 to 18 years in prison, the maximum allowed. The court acquitted the women of charges of possessing firearms and explosives.

The two have been in custody since their arrest in 2020. Before her arrest, Ms. Cumpio worked as a radio reporter and wrote for Eastern Vista, an online publication focused on the Eastern Visayas; authorities said her coverage was biased in favor of communist insurgents and convicted her of acting as a conduit for funds for the rebels.

Rights and press groups described the ruling as an attack on press freedom and linked the case to a practice known as "red-tagging." Beh Li Yih, the Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "This absurd verdict shows that the various pledges made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

to uphold press freedom are nothing but empty talk," and called for Ms. Cumpio to be freed. Reporters Without Borders said its investigation concluded the case was fabricated and called the verdict a "devastating failure" by the justice system. A spokesman for the government's National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Joel Sy Egco, said the ruling was "a clear affirmation" that the justice system worked and that the weapons charge being thrown out showed judicial independence.

Key Topics

World, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Tacloban City, Eastern Visayas, Marielle Dumaquil, Red-tagging