Tacloban, 16 June 2025 – A coalition of press freedom organisations, composed of AlterMidya, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), travelled to Tacloban to meet with detained journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, but was denied access to prison.
The group had submitted an official request to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) on 5 May 2025, seeking permission to meet with Cumpio and express solidarity amid growing concern over her prolonged detention. The delegation made the request with the backing of the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) — a global alliance of 51 states committed to defending press freedom — and received the response only a few days before the planned visit and was ultimately denied entry to the detention facility.
After lengthy discussions with prison authorities, the 26-year-old journalist was briefly allowed to appear from a distance, separated by three layers of prison bars. During this brief encounter, she managed to pass, through guards, a letter addressed to Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, who recently highlighted her case in a special report strongly damning the Philippine authorities.
The coalition also handed a package with necessities such as medication, and handwritten letters addressed to Cumpio from the representatives of NGOs present.
During the mission, the coalition also met with Cumpio’s mother and legal representatives. They expressed serious concerns about her conditions of detention. Cumpio is experiencing respiratory symptoms but has not received a comprehensive medical examination, and there have been delays in facilitating appropriate healthcare. Furthermore, prison authorities are said to inspect legal documents brought by her lawyers and are believed to be recording their meetings, raising significant concerns about potential violations of lawyer–client privilege.
Arrested in February 2020, Frenchie Mae Cumpio faces bogus charges of “terrorism financing” and “illegal possession of firearms and explosives”, offences that could carry a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Her testimony began in November 2024, nearly five years after her arrest, and is being closely monitored by the #FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio coalition.
During the hearings, the defence denounced serious violations of her fundamental rights, particularly during the raid that led to her arrest, as well as major inconsistencies in witness testimonies. The military claims to have found a firearm and a grenade in her home, but available evidence suggests these items may have been planted.
Before her arrest, Frenchie Mae Cumpio regularly reported on abuses committed by the military and police in Eastern Visayas through a programme she hosted on local radio station Aksyon Radyo-Tacloban DYVL. She was also the director of Eastern Vista, a news website that is part of the Altermidya network of independent media outlets dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalised communities in the Philippines.
In May, Frenchie Mae Cumpio’s case was included in the 2025 world’s ’10 Most Urgent’ list, according to One Free Press Coalition. The list brings to light and emphasizes ten cases of those who are currently detained for actively pursuing their duty as fellow journalists.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, Advocacy Manager, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Asia Pacific Bureau, states:
“We are appalled by the denial of our request to visit Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a rising star in journalism who has languished in detention for five years without conviction. Her prolonged imprisonment on bogus charges is a deliberate attempt to intimidate the press in the Philippines. We call on President Marcos Jr. and the Secretary of Justice to immediately release her, drop all charges against her, and at last bring an end to this unjustice.”
Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ):
“It is indefensible and inhumane to hold journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio any longer. She has languished behind bars for more than five years – even though she has not been convicted of any crime. The Philippines must live up to its reputation as a democracy and stop silencing critical reporting. We are in Tacloban to send a unified message: Frenchie must be freed immediately and unconditionally. It is regrettable that our prison visit request was denied.”
Akriti Saraswat, Safety and Gender Expert, Free Press Unlimited (FPU):
“We’re looking at a 26-year-old woman stripped of her basic rights- due legal process, community, healthcare, privacy, and information- simply for speaking truth to power. She’s been hit from all directions. You only attack journalists when truth is your enemy, and that’s what happened to Frenchie. This isn’t just an attack on her; it’s an attack on every Filipino and everyone who believes in democracy. We urge President Marcos Jr. and the Secretary of Justice to release her without delay, drop all charges, and right this wrong without further delay. We cannot allow her to spend even one more day behind bars.”
Jonathan de Santos, Chairperson, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP):
“Frenchie’s case, and the red-tagging that preceded it and that came after it, is a remnant of the previous administration that has no place in what is supposedly a ‘new’ Philippines nor in a country that prides itself on being a democracy. NUJP takes strength and inspiration from her resolve in fighting her case but she should not be facing these trumped-up charges that are based on questionable testimony at all. NUJP is in solidarity with Frenchie not only because she is a journalist, but also because she is an example of how the law can be weaponized against criticism, dissent and the people’s right to know.”
Neil Eco, AlterMidya:
“Frenchie shouldn’t even be in jail in the first place. It is absurd how the government continues to paint her and her co-accused Marielle Domequil as supposed criminals and use this as an excuse to disallow visits from concerned friends and rights groups, even if she is not convicted of the unjust trumped-up charges against her. We continue to call on the Marcos Jr administration to drop these fabricated charges versus Frenchie and the Tacloban 5.”
Spokespeople are available for interviews in English/Filipino:
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (Manila): Jonathan De Santos,
secretariat@nujp.org
AlterMidya (People’s Alternative Media Network, Manila): Neil Eco, neileco@altermidya.net
Committee to Protect Journalists (Frankfurt/New York): Beh Lih Yi, lbeh@cpj.org;
press@cpj.org
Reporters Without Borders (Taipei/Paris): Aleksandra Bielakowska, abielakowska@rsf.org
Free Press Unlimited (Amsterdam): Akriti Saraswat, araswat@freepressunlimited.org
