By STATEMENT | ALTERMIDYA
In her second time taking the witness stand on January 13, 2025, journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio will refute charges of ‘terrorism financing’ against her and lay worker Marielle Domequil.
The case is but another trumped-up charge compounded on the illegal possession of firearms and explosives case initially filed against the two, together with human rights worker Alexander Abinguna, after the 2020 raid in Tacloban City. Also arrested in the raid were Mira Legion of BAYAN Eastern Visayas and Marissa Cabaljao of People Surge.
The circumstances around filing the terrorism financing case against Frenchie and Marielle are filled with discrepancies.
At the time of the raid, a raiding police official noticed the box containing the money and forced Frenchie to open it. Nowhere in the search warrant presented by the state forces stated that Frenchie and Marielle had in their possession thousands of pesos in cash. In the inventory after the raid, the police also suspiciously did not state the money that they supposedly confiscated.
After seizing the money, two witness statements conjured as so-called rebel surrenderees surfaced and stated the money was used by Frenchie and Marielle to allegedly fund the revolutionary movement in Region 8. These dubious witness accounts were used to file for a civil forfeiture case which a judge from the Manila Regional Trial Court granted.
We are certain that Frenchie and Marielle can enlighten the court on these unfounded allegations of financing, which has since been used against numerous progressive groups.
State forces slapping terrorism financing charges has become a concerning pattern since the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, coupled with the persistence of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). The targets of such a case, more often than not, are humanitarian organizations and workers. Just last year, the Eastern Visayas-based non-government organization (NGOs) Leyte Center for Development (LCDE) had its assets frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) due to accusations by the military of funding the New People’s Army (NPA). LCDE is a humanitarian organization concerned with providing aid and development in rural communities in the Eastern Visayas Region.
It is becoming more clear that each new terrorism financing case is a crackdown against humanitarian work. NGOs bringing service to rural areas neglected by government are made victims of the state’s so-called anti-insurgency campaign. It appears that Frenchie and Marielle are among the early victims of this crackdown under the previous Duterte administration.
This coming February 7, it will have been 5 years since Tacloban 5 were arrested. We stand by Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, and the rest of the Tacloban 5 and call for the immediate dismissal of the fabricated cases against them and to hold the persons responsible for their arrest accountable!
