Human rights defenders and press freedom advocates trooped to the Department of Justice to mark the fifth year of the arrest of five activists in Tacloban and assail the Marcos Jr. administration’s slow-paced court proceedings in cases of political persecution.
On February 7, 2020, KARAPATAN human rights worker Alexander Philip “Chakoy” Abinguna, community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, development worker Mariel Domequil, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan staff Mira Legion, and environmental activist Marissa Cabaljao were accosted and arrested in Tacloban City due to charges on illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
Aside from the initial charges, Cumpio and Demequil have been slapped with additional charges of terrorism financing in July 2021 following the alleged money found during the raid. If convicted of these charges, they could face a maximum of 52 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Legion and Cabaljao have been released upon posting bail.
Many human rights groups have assailed a similar pattern of arrests and charges against activists in Manila and Tacloban since the implementation of Executive Order No. 70 under the Duterte administration in 2018. Through EO 70, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) was established, which the rights groups note to have profiled, red-tagged, and persecuted progressive individuals and organizations.
Rights group Karapatan condemned the Marcos Jr. administration due to the prolonged prosecution of the Tacloban 5 case, citing its witnesses’ deliberate delays in court proceedings.
“The undue delays are prolonging their detention and come on top of the fact that the so-called pieces of evidence against them have all been planted,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
According to Palabay, jail authorities have been curtailing their right to receive visitors and the court hearing their case has refused to have diplomatic personnel observe the proceedings.
On January 27 last year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan visited Cumpio, Abinguna, and Domequil at the Tacloban City Jail. The UN expert further expressed concern over their prolonged detention since February 2020 and questioned the delays in their court proceedings.
Meanwhile, on August 30 last year, the Altermidya network urged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the restricted visitation rights for Cumpio. Altermidya national coordinator Avon Ang noted that while there were people who have been able to visit Cumpio through coordination with her lawyers, the process remains challenging.
Cumpio is the youngest journalist and political prisoner at the age of 20 since being taken into custody. Many local and international rights advocates have since demanded the dismissal of charges against Cumpio and her co-accused, citing these as fabricated and intended to silence human rights defenders and journalists.
“This prolonged detention of a fine journalist and committed human rights defender is against all norms of natural justice and international human rights. After five long years, justice is overdue for Frenchie May Cumpio and the other detainees who form the Tacloban 5,” said the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) in a statement.
Cumpio is a member of IAWRT, an international organization that aims to empower women in the media industry, and became the regional coordinator of Radyo Tacloban, a women-led community radio project by IAWRT International through the local Philippines chapter.
Aside from that, Cumpio is also the Executive Director of the Eastern Vista news website and a radio news anchor at Aksyon Radyo Tacloban DYVL 819. As a community journalist, she is known to have reported extensively on the struggles of marginalized communities. Her work often focused on abuses and human rights violations committed by military and police forces. Her courageous coverage of such issues led to her being red-tagged and arrested under charges that rights groups and press freedom advocates believe are politically motivated.
Meanwhile, UP Solidaridad and its member publications, along with various student organizations and delegates of the 58th Convention of the General Assembly of Student Councils, also held a chalk art protest to express solidarity with the call for justice for the Tacloban 5 at the UPDEPPO Quadrangle in Clark, Pampanga.
The said activity was held in commemoration of the first National Day of Action Against Media Attacks following its ratification in the 2024 UP Solidaridad Congress.
Another journalist targeted under anti-terrorism laws
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) slammed the accusation against freelance journalist Deo Montesclaros of terrorism financing. Montesclaros is the second journalist in the Philippines to be accused under the anti-terrorism laws after Cumpio.
Montesclaros is a correspondent for Pinoy Weekly, contributes photographs to IMAGO Images and Alto Press in Germany and is a former correspondent for Northern Dispatch. He is known to have been reporting on rights violations, farmers’ issues, and environmental issues in Cagayan Valley since 2017.
On January 10, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Cagayan issued a subpoena for Montesclaros and several activists to submit counter-affidavits following a December 23, 2024 letter from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cagayan Valley, alleging them of collecting supplies for the New People’s Army in 2018.
NUJP reported Montesclaros have been red-tagged by NTF-ELCAC in a Senate hearing since 2020. This was the same hearing when various alternative media outfits, including Manila Today, have been red-tagged and labeled as “communist propaganda machinery”.
Press freedom advocates slammed the chilling and adverse effects of red-tagging as it endangered their safety and infringed upon their rights to free expression.
“We condemn as well the continuing use of supposed anti-terrorism laws as a tool to silence journalists and the public in general. We call on the Presidential Task Force on Media Security and its new leadership to monitor this case, ensure that Deo’s rights, safety, and well-being are protected, and seek accountability over the spurious accusation against him,” said NUJP in a statement.
