𝗔𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝘆. 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗼

The prolonged detention of journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio is “inhumane and has no place in a system that claims to uphold justice and respect media freedom.”

This was the declaration of the international media organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as a Philippine court is set to rule in the first of two cases (illegal possession of firearms and financing terrorism) which are seen as red-tagging of journalists.

Cumpio is the executive director of the Eastern Vista news website and a news anchor with Aksyon Radyo Tacloban radio.

Known as “Tacloban 5 “, activists Cumpio, Mariel Domequil, Marissa Cabaljao, Mira Legion, and Alexander Philip Abinguna were arrested on 7 February 2020 after an alleged illegal raid of their offices. They are active members of organizations involved in independent journalism, human rights, and environmental issues.

Prior to her arrest, Cumpio would frequently cover alleged abuses of power perpetrated by military forces on Eastern Visayas.

“How do we even combat a well-orchestrated lie?”, Cumpio said in a letter as the circumstances of their arrest remain questionable, with allegations of fabrication of evidence and the absence of witnesses.

Some of the alleged evidence used against Cumpio include a flag of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), a .45-caliber pistol, and a fragmentation grenade placed on her single bed, taken by the police during her arrest.

Described as a “parody of justice” by UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan, among the most controversial aspects of the case are two key witnesses whose statements alone would be enough to invalidate the entire case. Presented as former rebel defectors, they appear in several similar cases. Cumpio says she has never met them.

Cumpio and her colleagues were subject to “red-tagging”, where journalists, activists, union leaders, and human rights defenders are labelled as connected to armed communist insurgent groups, often accompanied by threats, harassment, or attacks.
“Her prolonged detention on bogus charges is merely a ploy to intimidate her and deter fellow journalists from reporting on topics of public interest,” CPJ said.

The Laoang Regional Trial Court Branch 21 dismissed Cumpio’s murder charges on November 6, 2025 which alleged she joined a 2019 ambush against state forces, due to the “glaring disparity and difference regarding the identity of the person named in the complaint and the person arrested”. The complaint was addressed to ‘Frenchie Armando Cupio’, who was deemed not to be the same person as the detained journalist.

The Court of Appeals reversed on October 29, 2025 a lower court decision that froze Cumpio’s bank account and obliged her and Domequil to pay a combined sum of P500,000 on charges of ‘terrorist financing’. The court found no evidence linking the journalist to the CPP or its military arm, the New People’s Army (NPA), stating that, “measures to counter terrorism must not be done without due process, and at the expense of individuals, groups and civil society organizations that are engaged in the promotion and defense of human rights.”

“Journalism is not terrorism. Dissent is not a crime,” National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) Leyte said in a statement echoed by media groups AlterMidya, Reporters Without Borders, and Free Press Unlimited.

“Red-tagging” is a threat to people’s life, liberty, and security,” declared the Supreme Court in the case of Deduro v. Maj. Gen. Vinoya (G.R. No. 254753, July 4, 2023)
The Supreme Court stressed that red-tagging is a form of harassment and intimidation as labelling a person “red” often comes with frequent surveillance, direct harassment, and in some instances, eventual death.

The Supreme Court stressed that being associated with communists makes a red-tagged person a target of vigilantes, paramilitary groups or even state agents. It also noted that red-tagging uses threats and intimidation to discourage “subversive activities.”
In his concurring opinion. SC Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said red tagging is used to silence or cause untold human rights abuses on vocal dissenters.

Not only does this make these leaders’ lives and liberties vulnerable, Justice Leonen stressed that a chilling effect on dissent is also generated among similar-minded individuals.

“Belief in communism has historically been used as a bogey to create non-existent exigencies for purposes of national security. History records the many human rights violations that may have been caused by this unsophisticated view of some in the echelons of military power. History, too, teaches, that toleration and the creation of wider deliberative spaces are the more lasting and peaceful ways to debunk worn-out ideologies,” Leonen said.

(𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑦. 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑅. 𝐺𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑟𝑠’ 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑜 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑧 𝐵𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑎𝑤 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜@𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑧.𝑐𝑜𝑚, 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 09088665786)