TACLOBAN City community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who is currently in jail on terror financing charges, has been recognized with the prestigious 2026 Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award, which honors journalists who have been “unjustly imprisoned for their work.”
“Notably, all of this year’s honorees are independent journalists, working without the institutional protections or legal resources often available at major media organizations,” the US-based International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) said on May 14.
“At a time of mounting threats to press freedom and deep instability across the media industry, their work reminds us why independent journalism matters,” it added.
The organization also announced the recipients of the 2026 Courage in Journalism Awards: Elaheh and Elnaz Mohammadi of Iran, Georgia Fort of the United States, and Nay Min Ni of Myanmar.
“Each of these journalists has demonstrated extraordinary courage in pursuit of the truth, risking their safety and freedom to hold power to account,” the IWMF said.
Retired SunStar editor-in-chief Nini Cabaero of STET-Women in Cebu Media lauded Cumpio for receiving the IWMF award.
“This is recognition of her courage while behind bars.
May freedom be her next reward,” Cabaero said.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), which serves as Cumpio’s legal counsel, said that “whatever the local court may have ruled, the world recognizes Frenchie Mae as a journalist imprisoned for doing her job; and in that recognition lies the most damning vindication of her work and cause as a people’s journalist.”
“As her legal counsel, we are profoundly honored and grateful to have been entrusted with her legal battles. She is one of the brave clients who inspire us to be brave lawyers,” the NUPL added.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), which nominated Cumpio for the award, thanked the IWMF “for selecting Frenchie from among the many nominees from around the world.”
“The IWMF’s award affirms the importance of community journalism, or in the words of Frenchie, ‘amplifying the voices of marginalized and oppressed sectors,’” the media group said in a statement on May 15, while reiterating its call for her release.
Prior to her arrest in 2020, Cumpio served as executive director of Eastern Vista and worked as a block-time radio broadcaster for a local radio station based in the city. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)
