Groups troop to DOJ to demand release of Tacloban-based journalist

Members of independent media groups ring bells in front of the Department of Justice on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, during a protest action to urge the department to drop the charges against detained Tacloban-based journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio. Screen grab from a video from The Manila Collegian

MANILA, Philippines — Members of multiple independent media organizations trooped to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday to call for the release of jailed community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio.

The protest followed the arrival of Irene Khan, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, on Monday.

The groups rang bells in front of the DOJ as they urged the department to junk the charges on Cumpio, which protesters have called “trumped up.”

“Ang panawagan namin ay ibasura ang trumped-up charges na isinampa laban kay Frenchie Mae Cumpio sa lalong madaling panahon,” said Brell Lacerna, the national spokesperson of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and one of the speakers during the protest action.

(Our call is to dismiss the trumped-up charges filed against Frenchie Mae Cumpio as soon as possible.)

The detained journalist from Tacloban has been imprisoned since 2020 along with four other human rights defenders.

Cumpio, whose 25th birthday coincided with the groups’ protest, has been red-tagged and labeled as a “high-ranking” official of the National People’s Army, much to the dismay of rights defenders.

READ: 3 years on: Groups reignite call to release Tacloban journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio

Lacerna said that all of the charges against the journalist are “wrongful” as she simply earned the ire of some officials due to her critical reporting in Eastern Visayas.

He likewise mentioned that they are urging Khan to probe the matter, along with other press freedom issues in the country.

“…bisitahin at imbestigahan ito ni UN Rapporteur Khan, maging ang iba pang press attacks sa Pilipinas tulad ng pagpaslang ni Percy Lapid at Juan Jumalon,” Lacerna told INQUIRER.net.

(…for UN Rapporteur Khan to visit and investigate it, as well as other press attacks in the Philippines like the killing of Percy Lapid and Juan Jumalon.)

The spokesperson further said that the state of press freedom in the country did not improve even after Former President Rodrigo Duterte stepped down from office.

In a previous statement, Paul Soriano, National Union of Journalists in the Philippines Secretary-General Metro Manila Chapter, revealed that the number of documented attacks against journalists under current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has been higher than the previous administration during the same period.

“We already have 109 documented attacks against journalists. This is made up of different forms of harassment, cyberattacks, intimidations,” Soriano said.

Khan is expected to be in the Philippines from January 23 to February 2.

She is expected to collaborate with the Department of Justice, the Commission on Human Rights, and government media agencies including the Presidential Communications Office, among others.