Freedom on Trial: The Detention of Frenchie Mae Cumpio

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urgently called on the Philippine government to release investigative journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been detained since February 2020 on charges of “financing terrorism” and “illegal possession of firearms” that RSF and others label as fabricated. The government alleges weapons were found during a raid, but press freedom groups assert the evidence was planted—part of a wider “red-tagging” campaign that brands critical journalists as subversive.

Cumpio, 26, directs Eastern Vista, an independent platform highlighting marginalized voices in Eastern Visayas. Her arrest followed her reporting on military abuses and environmental destruction in that region—a beat RSF’s Asia-Pacific director Cédric Alviani described as an attempt “to deter all Filipino journalists from investigating taboo topics”.

Detained for more than four years without conviction, Cumpio faces up to 40 years in prison. RSF urges immediate dismissal of charges and her release ahead of trial, calling her prolonged imprisonment “a travesty of justice”. Similarly, the Committee to Protect Journalists and other media advocates have demanded due process, criticizing how the justice system is wielded to silence journalists.

The trial is framed as a high-stakes test for press freedom in the Philippines—a country where over 200 journalists have been murdered since 1986, and which ranks 134th among 180 nations in RSF’s Press Freedom Index. International pressure is mounting: the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and a coalition including CPJ, RSF, Free Press Unlimited, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines have publicly urged authorities to drop the charges.

Despite efforts to restrict access, RSF representatives traveled to meet Cumpio and highlight her case in international forums. The upcoming trial carries global implications—it could either affirm democratic principles by exonerating her, or deepen alarm as convictions on dubious terrorism allegations.

Cumpio’s plight underscores a deeper crisis: when judicial and security tools are repurposed to crush accountability journalism, democratic safeguards falter. Her release would not only embrace justice—it would affirm the Philippines’ commitment to a free and fearless press.