The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA), an organization of former political prisoners, assailed the conviction of community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and development worker Marielle Domequil on trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives and terrorist financing, calling it a “travesty of justice “.
Frenchie Mae and Marielle were arrested with three others—human rights worker Alexander Philip Abinguna, Bayan Muna-Eastern Visayas staff Mira Legion and People Surge spokesperson Marissa Cabaljao—on February 7, 2020, in Tacloban City. Collectively known as the Tacloban 5, Frenchie Mae, Marielle and Alexander were charged with fabricated cases of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, while Mira and Marissa were charged with illegal possession of firearms. In addition, Frenchie Mae and Marielle were also slapped with trumped-up charges of violating the law against terrorist financing.
The struggle for the release of Frenchie Mae and Marielle has been an uphill and protracted battle. On October 29, 2025, the Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that froze Frenchie Mae’s bank account and obliged her and Marielle to pay a combined sum of Php500,000 on charges of “terrorist financing”. Finding no evidence linking Frenchie Mae and Marielle to the CPP or its military arm, the NPA, the Court of Appeals said “measures to counter terrorism must not be done without due process, and at the expense of individuals, groups and civil society organizations that are engaged in the promotion and defense of human rights.”
Then, just eight days later, double murder charges against Frenchie Mae that were filed against her in August 2025 were dismissed by the Laoang Regional Trial Court Branch 21.
Frenchie Mae and Marielle’s perplexing conviction on terrorism financing charges completely disregarded the Court of Appeals decision smashing the very basis for which they had been falsely accused—their having been red-tagged by the NTF-ELCAC. The conviction, moreover, brings to the fore the military’s use of “rebel-returnees,” individuals of dubious integrity and credibility, to serve as “professional witnesses” against activists.
“We fervently hope that the regional trial court that decided on Frenchie Mae and Marielle’s unjust conviction on these preposterous charges will see reason and reverse its decision in the motion for reconsideration to be filed soon by their lawyers,” said SELDA vice chairperson Danilo dela Fuente. “But if needed, SELDA and the rest of the human rights community are ready to join Frenchie Mae and Marielle’s family, friends, and colleagues in bringing the fight all the way to the Supreme Court and exhausting all other avenues of struggle.”
Meanwhile, Frenchie Mae and Marielle’s acquittal on bogus charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives (IPFE) underscores the police and military’s rotten modus of planting evidence to justify the arrest and detention of activists targeted for persecution.
Citing figures from Karapatan, Dela Fuente said almost half of the 697 political prisoners in the Philippines are facing trumped-up IPFE charges, while up to 227 mass leaders and activists have been falsely charged with violating anti-terror laws, with 30 of them currently detained.
