The Movement for Media Safety Philippines (MMSP) on Friday expressed serious concern over prison officials’ refusal to allow jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to receive visits from her colleagues, calling the move a troubling restriction on press freedom.
“The refusal of jail authorities in Tacloban to allow press freedom advocates a proper visit with detained journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio is both unacceptable and deeply alarming,” MMSP said in a statement.
International and local press freedom groups were barred from meeting Cumpio during a scheduled visit to the Tacloban City Jail on Monday, June 16.
In a statement, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Cumpio, 26, was only allowed to appear from a distance, separated by three layers of prison bars.
Cumpio was visited by RSF along with representatives from AlterMidya, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Free Press Unlimited, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
“This incident sends a chilling message about the state of human rights and media freedom in the Philippines,” MMSP added.
Still, according to MMSP, Cumpio’s prolonged pre-trial detention and the irregularities in the legal proceedings reflect a broader pattern of harassment and legal persecution faced by journalists in the Philippines, particularly those reporting on human rights, marginalized communities, and local abuses of power.
Cumpio, along with human rights advocates Mariel Domequil and Alexander Philip Abinguna, was arrested on February 7, 2020.
