#FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio: RSF and international coalition call for Philippine journalist’s release as trial enters crucial stage
A coalition of international and local press freedom organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to immediately release Philippine journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been languishing in pre-trail detention for over five years.
On 24 March 2025, an international coalition that consists of RSF, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), AlterMidya, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Free Press Unlimited (FPU) published a joint statement calling for the immediate, unconditional release of investigative journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who is currently on trial. On the same day, the reporter took the stand at the Tacloban Regional Trial Court for the third time and concluded her testimony, defending herself against retaliatory charges of “illegal possession of firearms” and “financing terrorism,” which she denies. If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison.
The 26-year-old journalist has been languishing behind bars since she was arrested in February 2020 along with four human rights defenders. As executive director of the Eastern Vista news website, Frenchie Mae Cumpio frequently covered police and military abuses as well as community welfare issues prior to her arrest. She also hosted a radio programme on Aksyon Radyo-Tacloban DYVL, where she reported on abuses committed by the military and police in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines.
"Frenchie Mae Cumpio is a talented journalist who, through her unwavering courage, embodies the future of investigative journalism in the Philippines. Her prolonged detention on bogus charges is merely a ploy to intimidate her and deter all fellow journalists from reporting on topics of public interest. The Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Department of Justice must now drop the outrageous charges against her and release the journalist without further delay.
RSF and the coalition have been monitoring Frenchie Mae Cumpio’s trial since she began testifying in November 2024 — nearly half a decade after she was first arrested. During her testimony, the journalist and her defence team pointed out grave violations of her constitutional rights in a police raid leading to her arrest and inconsistencies in witness’ testimonies. The circumstances of her arrest were deeply concerning: the military claimed to have found a gun and a grenade when they raided her home, yet she denies these allegations, pointing that someone planted this evidence in order to incriminate her.
Her case highlights the disturbing “red-tagging” practice in the Philippines, where journalists are labelled by the army or the government as “subversive” or even “terrorists” when they cover issues deemed sensitive to their interests. In January 2025, Deo Montesclaros, multimedia reporter for Pinoy Weekly, was unjustly charged with “financing terrorism,” similar to Frenchie Mae Cumpio.
With 147 journalists murdered since the restoration of democracy in 1986, the Philippines remains one of the deadliest countries for media workers. The archipelago ranked 134th out of 180 in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
