Frenchie Mae Cumpio

New York, November 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists and partners welcomed a Philippine court’s decision to quash the murder charges against community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and called on authorities to drop all remaining charges against her. The 26-year-old journalist has been held in detention for nearly six years since her arrest in February 2020 on charges of…

New York, September 24, 2025—More than 250 journalists and representatives from media groups around the world on Wednesday called for Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take “decisive action” and immediately release journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, in a letter coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the #FreeFrenchieMaeCumpio coalition. The 26-year-old journalist has…

New York, August 29, 2025–Ahead of National Press Freedom Day in the Philippines on August 30, the Committee to Protect Journalists and partners have called on the country’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and his administration to immediately release journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio as her trial nears its conclusion.  The 26-year-old journalist has been held in prison for more than…

Geneva, June 27, 2025—A handwritten letter by journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been detained in the Philippines for more than five years without a conviction, was read out at the United Nations headquarters by U.N. special envoy Irene Khan, who called the 26-year-old’s prolonged detention “a travesty of justice.” It was the first time…

Manila, June 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists and partner organizations have completed a joint mission to the Philippines, a first-of-its-kind effort supported by the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), a grouping of 51 member states committed to defending press freedom worldwide. During the June 16-20 mission, CPJ, Reporters Without Borders, and Free Press Unlimited took…

Tacloban City, June 16, 2025—Philippine authorities on Monday refused to allow the Committee to Protect Journalists and a coalition of press freedom organizations to visit jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio during a joint mission aimed at asking authorities to end her more than five-year detention. CPJ and the groups had submitted a formal request through the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) on May…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday joined four press freedom organizations in urging Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and its Department of Justice to end the detention of community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been behind bars for more than five years. The groups said in a joint statement, led by CPJ, that the 26-year-old…

At a waterfront courthouse in Tacloban City, a long-time hotbed of communist insurgency in the Philippines’ Eastern Visayas island region, heavily armed guards were escorting jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to trial. The picturesque setting belied the harsh reality of the April 17 hearing. Cumpio could be put behind bars for life if found guilty…

As Philippine presidential candidates wind up their campaigns before the May 9 election, journalists in the country are demanding that whoever succeeds President Rodrigo Duterte put an end to “red tagging” –  the labeling of individuals as rebels or supporters of the communist insurgency – that helped put their colleague Frenchiemae Cumpio behind bars.  Cumpio, the 23-year-old executive director…