A grenade under her pillow?': the Filipino journalist jailed for six years without trial

"For weeks before the police came for her, Frenchie Mae Cumpio had noticed odd incidents. The Filipino journalist just 21 years old but already hosting a radio show and working as executive director of a local news website told colleagues that a stranger had begun turning up and asking after her at the boarding house where she lived. She was sent a bouquet of flowers designed for a grave."

"Cumpio believed it was deliberate intimidation. She had recently published a series of reports after visiting poor rural farmers who said they were being harassed by army units in the region. Frenchie found that as the militarisation grew more intense, it was small farming communities who were being terrorised and forced to leave their villages, says Neil Eco, a journalist colleague and friend."

"Those dispatches, along with a growing record of work that was highly critical of authorities, Eco says, put her in the eye of the government and the army. Cumpio and human rights activist Alexander Abinguna had been tipped off that they could be targeted by police and were so concerned about the risk of being falsely accused that Abinguna wrote to the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, requesting that the commission inspect their offices to verify there were no illicit or planted materials there."

"The next evening, however, before an inspection could take place, police and military raided Cumpio's boarding house in the middle of the night. She was taken outside during the police search. About 15 minutes later, the police presented what they alleged had been in Cumpio's bed: a hand grenade, firearm, and a communist flag. It's like theatre, says Eco, who has been campaigning for her release. Sleeping with a grenade under your pillow?"

Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a 21-year-old Filipino journalist and executive director of a local news website, experienced repeated intimidation including a stranger asking about her, a grave-style bouquet, and being followed. She reported on poor rural farmers who said army units were harassing them and said militarisation was forcing small farming communities from their villages. Cumpio and human rights activist Alexander Abinguna feared police targeting and requested an inspection by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights. Before an inspection could occur, police and military raided Cumpio's boarding house and later presented a grenade, firearm, and communist flag allegedly found in her bed. Cumpio was arrested in February 2020 and maintains the weapons were planted and that she is not involved in terrorism.

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