On September 5, 2025, Freedom Now and the international law firm Dechert LLP filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Filipino human rights activists Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, and Alexander Abinguna. The petition alleges that the Philippines’s detention of the three activists infringes on their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association, in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“It is unconscionable that Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, and Alexander Abinguna have spent more than five and a half years in pre-trial detention,” said Freedom Now Legal Officer Adam Lhedmat. “Their fundamental human rights have been abused as the judicial system examines the baseless charges against them at a glacial pace. We are confident that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will conclude that the government of the Philippines has violated international law by detaining the activists and that they should be released from detention immediately.”
Prior to their arrests, each of activists held various positions in their community related to human rights. Cumpio was the executive director of the community news Eastern Vista website and a radio news anchor for several outlets. Her reporting focused on alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by the police and military. Domequil was a women’s rights activist and community organizer with the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, a Christian missionary organization. Abinguna was a member of the Karapatan Council, which conducts research and documents human rights abuses in the Philippines.
The three activists were arrested in February 2020 during a series of pre-dawn police raids in Tacloban City, a coastal city located approximately 360 miles southeast of Manila. The arrest occurred days after Cumpio reported to the nonprofit foundation Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility that masked men had been tailing the staff of Eastern Vista. In one instance, a man came to the Eastern Vista office with a picture of Cumpio asking if staff knew her whereabouts. Two other human rights activists were also arrested in the raid, Marissa Cabaljao and Mira Legion, but were later released on bail. The group is collectively referred to as the “Tacloban 5.”
Cumpio, Domequil, and Abinguna were charged with illegal possession of firearms after authorities alleged to have found a weapon during their raid. Although their trial began in June 2020, the proceedings against them are still ongoing as of September 2025. In July 2021, new charges were filed against Cumpio alleging that she was financing terrorist activities based upon money was found during the raid on her home and office. A civil forfeiture case was subsequently initiated against her as a result of these charges. If convicted of all charges she could face a maximum of 52 years in prison.
The arrest of the Tacloban 5 occurred amid the government’s broader campaign to shut down several independent news outlets, including Rappler and ABS-CBN, a television network. In order to justify the arrests, the authorities claim that Eastern Vista operated as a front for the Communist Party and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. The activists have denied these accusations. The Filipino government has often used the tactic of “red-tagging,” or labeling individuals as communists, to bring spurious criminal charges against journalists and human rights advocates. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression has condemned this practice and called for the Philippines to end it.