Philippine court convicts journalist of terror financing charge

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Philippine court Thursday found a Filipina journalist guilty of financing terrorism in a verdict that was condemned by press freedom watchdogs but welcomed by anti-communist insurgency officials.

Presiding Judge Georgina Perez of the Regional Trial Court in central Tacloban city convicted Frenchie Mae Cumpio and human rights missionary Marielle Domequil - who have been jailed for nearly six years - of financing terrorism charges. They were acquitted on separate charges of illegally possessing firearms and explosives, court officials said.

Prison terms of 12 years to 18 years were imposed on Cumpio and Domequil, who could appeal the verdicts, Ailene Balatay, the lawyer for the clerk of court, said.

The charges stemmed from accusations that Cumpio and Domequil provided financial and other support to New People's Army communist insurgents in 2019 in the eastern province of Samar. They were arrested in February 2020 on charges of illegally possessing a gun and a grenade.

Both vehemently denied the allegations. The charges against the 26-year-old Cumpio have been depicted by activists as the latest sign of the risks faced by reporters in the Philippines, which is regarded as one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world.

Reporters Without Borders and allied organizations condemned the convictions as a "clear miscarriage of justice" and said an investigation by the media advocacy group found the charges against the two were fabricated.

Cumpio's "conviction represents a devastating failure on the part of the Philippine justice system and the authorities' blatant disregard for press freedom," Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager at Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement.

"The Philippines should serve as an international example of protecting media freedom - not a perpetrator that red-tags, prosecutes and imprisons journalists simply for doing their work," said the group, also known by its French acronym RSF.

At the time of her 2020 arrest, Cumpio was the executive director of a provincial news website and a radio news anchor who reported on alleged police and military abuses along with community welfare issues in the east-central Philippines, RSF said.

Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of the left-wing human rights coalition Karapatan, said the court's dismissal of the illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges "confirms that the accusations pushed by state security forces were fabricated from the start."

"Yet the same lies and perjured testimonies were used to force a conviction in the "financing terrorism case," she said.

Irene Khan, the U.N. special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression, has expressed dismay over the long pretrial detention of Cumpio and added that the charges against her "following months of 'red-tagging,' surveillance, intimidation and harassment, appear to have been filed in retaliation for her work as a journalist."

A Philippine government task force overseeing efforts to end the decades-long communist insurgency in the country said those who criticize the ruling as an act of intimidation against journalists or human rights workers were resorting to "a lie meant to shield criminal liability with moral blackmail."

"They were convicted for financing a terrorist organization - plain and simple," task force undersecretary Ernesto Torres Jr. said. "You do not launder terror funds and then hide behind press freedom or the Bible."

Those who disagree with the ruling should consider an appeal, "not incitement, not international propaganda, and not delegitimizing the justice system," Torres said.