“As the ‘tribune of the people,’ the OSG has a duty to ensure that sham and fabricated cases, like the cases against Frenchie and Marielle, should not be allowed to prosper.”
CAGAYAN DE ORO — The cases against journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and church worker Marielle Domequil are fabricated.
Lawyer Ephraim Cortez, president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), reiterated this following the recent resolution of the Court of Appeals (CA) in the civil forfeiture case, highlighting court decisions that contradict the terrorism financing conviction handed to the two women.
He said this should be a basis for the Office of the Solicitor General to perform its mandate as the “People’s Tribune” to relieve Cumpio and Domequil once their terrorism financing case elevates to the appellate court, like what it did to the cases against online media outfit Rappler.
“As the ‘tribune of the people,’ the OSG has a duty to ensure that sham and fabricated cases, like the cases against Frenchie and Marielle, should not be allowed to prosper,” Cortez wrote in a Facebook post.
In September 2025, the OSG filed a motion to withdraw its motion for extension in the ownership case of Rappler. The Supreme Court (SC) Third Division granted the motion, declaring the case “closed and terminated.”
Read: SC decision on Rappler case: Another victory for press freedom
The OSG also asked the SC to recommend the acquittal of Rappler co-founder Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. in their cyberlibel case after the SC Third Division ruled that the prescription period for cyberlibel is only one year from the discovery of the offense.
Legal inconsistency
Among the issues raised by Cortez was the varied treatment of testimonial evidence of “rebel returnees” presented by the prosecution in both charges.
In the civil forfeiture case, the CA Former Third Division considered the testimonies of two former rebel witnesses “uncorroborated” since there was no substantial proof linking Cumpio and Domequil to the communist movement. Even the report of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the petitioner, showed that the accused were not involved in any suspicious financial activity.
Read: CA upholds ruling: No proof money seized from Cumpio, Domequil linked to terrorism
There was also no proof that they were being designated as terrorists, which is indispensable to any forfeiture action.
The appellate court also gave little weight to the narration of events by a prosecution witness who asserted as a “single cooperating insider,” “[u]nless it is supported by independent and unbiased evidence.”
In the terrorism financing case, on the other hand, the Tacloban City Regional Trial Court Branch 45 considered the testimonies of five self-declared rebel surrenderers “credible” without any documentary evidence.
One of the alleged former rebels in this case was the same witness in the civil forfeiture case.
The lower court stated that their testimonies were carefully weighed and the rules do not demand the presentation of tangible evidence, as the conviction “rests upon the strength of the prosecution’s entire evidence.”
The NUPL president, however, wondered how these testimonies—declared as insufficient in a civil case that has a lower evidentiary threshold—were considered a basis for the guilty verdict in the accused’s terrorism financing case, which is a criminal case that requires proof beyond reasonable doubt.
“This explains the pretextual nature of the charges against Frenchie and Marielle. They were singled out and targeted because of their advocacies and activities as human rights defenders,” Cortez said.
On April 10, 2026, lawyers of Cumpio and Domequil filed a joint notice before the Tacloban court appealing the judgment in their terrorism financing case to the CA.
Kapatid, a support group of political prisoners, urged the appellate court to resolve this legal inconsistency.
“The Court of Appeals has fundamentally dismantled the prosecution’s core allegations and now faces a decisive test—whether evidence it has found weak and unsubstantiated can justify stealing what remains of their youth after six years already stolen by unjust political imprisonment,” said Fides Lim, Kapatid spokesperson.
Cumpio and Domequil have been transferred to the Correctional Institute for Women today, April 22, 2026, according to their lawyers. (RVO)
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