A young Filipino Journalist, who spent nearly six years in a crowded provincial prison, has been found guilty of terror financing on Thursday, in a case rights groups and a UN rapporteur labeled a “travesty of justice”.
According to Saudi Gazette, community Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, 26, was arrested in February 2020 after troops raided her boarding house in the middle of the night and allegedly found a hand grenade, firearm, and communist flag in her bed.
Rights groups had said the charges were fabricated and that Cumpio was red-tagged — labelled a subversive — for her reporting, which criticised the police and military.
Observers say that red-tagging of Journalists and activists intensified under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, who waged a bloody war on drugs from 2016 to 2022.
On Thursday, after six years in prison without trial, Cumpio was acquitted of charges related to the illegal possession of firearms and explosives, but convicted on a terrorism financing charge.
Her former roommate, Marielle Domequil, was also convicted.
The two broke down in tears and hugged each other as the guilty verdict was read and they were sentenced to 12-18 years in prison by judge Georgina Uy Perez of the Tacloban regional court, AFP news agency reported.
Outside the courthouse, riot police blocked a crowd of supporters that included Cumpio’s mother, Lala, from entering the courtyard.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager for Reporters Without Borders, said the verdict demonstrated a “blatant disregard for press freedom”.
“The Philippines should serve as an international example of protecting media freedom – not a perpetrator that red-tags, prosecutes and imprisons Journalists simply for doing their work,” she said.
In September, more than 250 Journalists and media groups called on president Marcos to release Cumpio, calling the charges “trumped up”.
“We are deeply concerned about the implications of this conviction, considering that there are many other cases, and I would say, trumped up cases, of financing terrorism that are still being prosecuted all over the country,” Atty Josa Deinla, one of Cumpio’s lawyers, told the BBC.
“The sad reality is that this decision carries grievous consequences for community journalism, because it’s really the community journalist — the ones on the fringes, the ones who don’t belong to the dominant media organisations, that really bring to light the conditions, especially in rural countryside, where the poorest people live.” – TJP
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