We stand in solidarity with Alexander Philip “Chakoy” Abinguña, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, Mira Legion, and Marissa Cabaljao, collectively known as the Tacloban 5.
We remember their unjust and arbitrary arrest on February 7, 2020, where joint police and military forces of the Philippine government raided offices of people’s organizations in Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines using defective search warrants.
Mira Legion and Marissa Cabaljao were eventually granted bail. Alexander Philip Abinguña, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, and Marielle Domequil, on the other hand, endured years of detention over the malicious trumped-up charges. Additional trumped-up cases were filed against them, including fabricated murder charges and accusations of terrorism financing.
On January 22, 2026, Cumpio and Domequil were acquitted on illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges, a victory against the practice of the brazen use of planted evidence against political prisoners. However, they were unjustly convicted of terrorism financing, and sentenced with 12 to 18 years in prison. This, despite a Court of Appeals ruling in October 2025 that the Anti-Money Laundering Council had no legal basis to seize the funds “confiscated” from Cumpio and Domequil, funds to be used for their humanitarian and media work. Cumpio and Domequil’s counsels are set to appeal the conviction before the higher courts.
Meanwhile, Abinguña continues to face two trumped up double murder and attempted murder charges filed in Laoang, Northern Samar, charges which are solely based on the perjured testimony of a so-called “rebel returnee” and “professional witness.” Abinguña is expected to face trial in the coming months.
The case of the Tacloban 5 underscores how counter-terrorism laws are weaponized to silence dissent, attack the freedom of the press, and vilify humanitarian work. It exposes a broader pattern of state repression of the use of planted evidence, prolonged trials and detention, and continuous red-tagging to silence dissent, and intimidate human rights defenders, journalists, and community organizers. Their ordeal reflects the plight of nearly 700 political prisoners in the Philippines. These compose the systematic attacks on the people’s rights to free expression, association, movement, and liberty.
As February 7, 2026 marks six years since their unjust arrest, we demand accountability and justice for the Tacloban 5, and the rest of political prisoners who continue to languish in jail, and those who continue to be persecuted from crimes they did not commit.
We call on the Philippine government to put an end to political persecution, attacks on the people’s fundamental rights, and the injustice against the Tacloban 5 and the rest of the Filipino people who defend their basic rights.
We demand:
Free the Tacloban 5
Dismiss all trumped-up charges against the Tacloban 5
Free Alexander Philip Abinguña, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, and Marielle Domequil
Free all political prisoners
