Tacloban journalist Cumpio faces 12-year sentence for terror financing

After almost six years of imprisonment without trial, journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio was convicted and sentenced to at least 12 years for financing terrorism by a Tacloban court on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

“This absurd verdict shows that the various pledges made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to uphold press freedom are nothing but empty talk,” said Beh Lih Yi, Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a statement.

In February 2020, Cumpio was arrested after police found a hand grenade, a firearm, and a communist flag in her room during a raid on an office she shared with human rights activist Alexander Abinguna.

Prior to the operation, both Cumpio and Abinguna said they had been tipped off that they could be targeted by police. 

Abinguna then requested the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to inspect their offices to confirm that no illicit or planted materials were present.

Cumpio has denied all allegations, saying all evidence presented against her was planted. 

She was detained on Feb. 7, 2020, in Tacloban City, alongside Abinguna and three other human rights activists.

She was later cleared of charges related to illegal possession of firearms. 

Courts also dismissed separate murder charges linked to an October 2019 incident and ruled in her favor in a civil case the same week, stating there was no evidence that she was a terrorist.

Before her arrest, Cumpio served as executive director of the Eastern Vista news website and worked as a radio news anchor covering community and human rights issues in Eastern Visayas.

Media organizations and advocacy groups around the world condemned the ruling, calling it a “travesty of justice.”

“There is little more to be said beyond what the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the media community have been saying: Free Frenchie Mae Cumpio,” said the NUJP in a statement. 

The ruling comes as the Philippines continues to rank poorly in press freedom, placing 116th out of 180 countries in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

Following the ruling, Cumpio’s legal team is expected to file an appeal.