National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)

Rule Changes

Condemned conviction, warned of chilling effect

Frenchie Mae Cumpio was 20 years old when police kicked down her door at 2 a.m. and claimed to find a grenade on her bed. Six years later, she remains in prison—now convicted of terrorism financing and facing up to 18 more years. The regional court acquitted her of the weapons charges that justified her original arrest but found her guilty of funneling money to communist insurgents, based largely on testimony from witnesses who gave contradictory statements about meeting a nine-year-old terrorist financier.

Updated May 22