MEDIA organizations rejoiced over the release of community journalist Myles Albasin and five other youth activists who were imprisoned for about seven years over illegal possession of firearms.
In her decision on Monday, September 22, 2025, Judge Marie Rose Inocando-Paras of Dumaguete City’s Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42 said the arrest of Albasin, who was 21 years old that time, and her companions who were doing farmer's forum during the incident, was not valid, citing in the inconsistencies of the prosecution’s witnesses.
"We in STET-Women in Cebu Media are happy to welcome home Myles Albasin, finally free after more than seven years in detention," Cebu-based editor and member of the women's media group Nini Cabaero told Sunstar Philippines on Tuesday, September 23.
"Her release is a reminder of why justice and human rights matter," she added.
Albasin, a student leader, graduated mass communication at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Cebu.
Albasin and her companions Carlo Ybañez, Ajomar Indico, Randel Hermino, Joel Baylosis, and Bernard Guillen, collectively known as "Mabinay 6", were arrested by military personnel in Mabinay town in Negros Oriental in 2018.
Philippine Army's 62nd Infantry Battalion apprehended them following a five-minute gun battle in the hinterland barangay of Luyang, Mabinay on March 3, 2018, a claim that was belied by the families and friends of Mabinay 6.
Also, a paraffin test yielded negative results for the Mabinay 6.
Jazmin Bonifacio, leader of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-Leyte chapter, said the release of Albasin and her companions "is a monumental triumph for justice."
"This hard-won liberation brings profound joy and relief, affirming that even in the darkest of times, perseverance can dismantle baseless accusations and expose the weaponization of institutions against dissent," Bonifacio told Catholic news site UCA News.
"Seven years of their life were wasted but we do not intend to stand by. We will continue to write their stories with more fervor and seek to hold to account those that had placed these young people in anguish for all those years. End the political persecution of journalists and the youth!" reads a separate statement from NUJP-Cebu.
Meanwhile, Danilo dela Fuente, vice chairperson of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda), an organization of former political prisoners, also welcomed the acquittal of Albasin and fellow youth activists.
“While we are glad that the Mabinay 6 have finally been vindicated, we cannot help but be angered at the seven and a half years that had been stolen from the lives of these young activists. Selda demands a stop to the State’s continuing practice of slapping activists with trumped-up charges based on perjured testmonies and false pieces of evidence," dela Fuente said in a statement.
A 2023 prison census report conducted by New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) cited the Catholic-majority Philippines as among other Asian nations with journalists languishing in jail, listing it among the ranks of China, Myanmar, India, and Afghanistan, among others.
CPJ also highlighted the case of Tacloban City-based community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio who remains in jail for over five years now.
"[Cumpio] remains the one journalist in prison in the Southeast Asian country, which was once a regional bastion of press freedom," CPJ said in a report.
Cumpio's camp dubbed her case as “trumped-up illegal arms and terror finance charges.” (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)