Jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio nominated for UNESCO press prize

TACLOBAN CTY – Three major international journalists’ organizations have nominated jailed Tacloban-based journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to receive this year’s Guillermo Cano Prize.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that it nominated Cumpio for the coveted prize “in recognition of her outstanding courage, commitment to journalism, and defense of press freedom in the face of adversity.”

The 27-year-old Cumpio, who is presently incarcerated at the Tacloban City Jail, was convicted last month on the charge of financing terrorism and was sentenced to between 12 and 18 years in prison.

Earlier, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Free Press Unlimited (FPU) also nominated Cumpio for the same award.

The Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is given by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to honor individuals or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to press freedom, particularly in dangerous situations.

The award, established in 1997 and named after slain Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, is conferred on May 3, World Press Freedom Day. The award carries a prize of $25,000, with funding from the Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia), Namibia Media Trust, Democracy & Media Foundation (Netherlands), and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

If she wins, Cumpio would be the second Filipino to receive the award, after Maria Ressa, who won in 2021.

“Frenchie Mae Cumpio is a beacon of journalism in a country long saddled with abysmal conditions for the press,” says CPJ Chief Global Affairs Officer Gypsy Guillén Kaiser. “Awarding her with the 2026 UNESCO/Cano Prize would be a clarion call for the Philippines and other countries to cease the rampant criminalization and undue imprisonment of journalists.”

The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) said the nomination is a recognition of Cumpio’s commitment and perseverance in detention.

“Just as important is the acknowledgement and assertion that Frenchie is a journalist despite what the government and its supposed witnesses accuse her of,” the NUJP stated.