Press Statement
January 24, 2026
“They have been in jail for almost six years on what the court has found to be fake firearms and explosives charges, but fake testimony about financing the New People’s Army could now keep journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her co-accused, lay church worker Mariel Domequil, in prison for at least another six years,” said Peter Murphy, chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). “We urge an immediate appeal to overturn these convictions.”
“Ms Cumpio and Ms Domequil should be granted bail immediately, to get them out f the Tacloban City jail,” Murphy said.
“ICHRP joins with a huge array of organisations in condemning this conviction on blatantly false evidence,” said Murphy. These organizations include the national human rights alliance KARAPATAN, the Committee to Protect Journalists Asia-Pacific, Reporters without Borders, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the national women’s alliance Gabriela, and independent online news service Altermidya.
The continued jailing of Ms Cumpio, executive director of the community media Eastern Vista at the time of her arrest, is a vivid demonstration of the ongoing repression of the media in the Philippines, especially of journalists critical of government policies. Ms Cumpio reported on the killings of peasant leaders. Ms Domequil is a lay worker with Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), dedicated to support projects with peasant communities in the Eastern Visayas. RMP was heavily persecuted by the Duterte administration and this continues under Marcos Jr.
“Ms Cumpio and Ms Domequil are political prisoners. These fabricated charges must be quashed and the prisoners liberated,” said Murphy. “There are over 695 political prisoners in the Philippines, a real scandal in Southeast Asia. All of them should be freed to enable deep going political reform.”
The two were convicted on January 22, 2026, of financing terrorism by the Regional Trial Court in Tacloban City, Leyte, a court which also acquitted them of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The pair was sentenced to a jail term of 12 to 18 years. They were arrested back on February 7, 2020, and the explosives charge was non-bailable.
The state had alleged that on March 29, 2019 in Catbalogan, Samar, Cumpio and Domequil allegedly delivered cash and support to the New People’s Army, in alleged violation of Republic Act No. 10168, the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act. The firearms and explosives charges were thrown out because the court found they were based on unreliable witnesses, speculative intelligence, and inconsistent narratives. But based on this unreliable evidence, security forces raided the Eastern Vista office on February 7, 2020 in Tacloban City, seizing ₱557,360.00, (USD9,430) which had been collected to aid communities hit by natural disaster or military attack.
“ICHRP calls for all seized funds to be returned to the humanitarian organizations concerned, so that they can continue their important work,” said Murphy.
“The National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) drives this kind of repression and gross injustice,” said Murphy. “It is long overdue that the international community press for the abolition of NTF-ELCAC and the transformation of the judiciary into an independent institution that upholds the law, especially the basic human rights of the Filipino people set out in the Constitution and in international law.”
“The Anti-Terrorism Law (RA 11479), based on Australian advice, and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Law (RA 10168), must be repealed or fundamentally redrawn,” Murphy concluded.
