URGENT CALL FOR ACTION: On the 6th year of the unjust arrest and detention of the TACLOBAN 5
KARAPATAN Public Information
Background of the Arrest, Detention, and Trumped-Up Charges vs Tacloban 5
On February 7, 2020, joint elements of the police and military raided offices of people’s organizations in Tacloban City, using questionable search warrants, after KARAPATAN publicly raised the extensive surveillance of its office in the city, as well as that of other organizations. This operation resulted in the unjust arrest of Alexander Philip “Chakoy” Abinguña, a member of KARAPATAN’s National Council; community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines lay worker Marielle Domequil; People Surge Network spokesperson Marissa Cabaljao, and Mira Legion of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Eastern Visayas – collectively known as the Tacloban 5.
The Tacloban 5 immediately decried the planting of evidence during the raid. Firearms, ammunition, explosives, and a CPP-NPA-NDF flag were allegedly “found” in areas where they slept—under pillows and mattresses, and even near the crib of Marissa Cabaljao’s one-year-old child.
Legion and Cabaljao were charged with trumped-up cases of illegal possession of firearms and were eventually granted bail. Meanwhile, Abinguña, Cumpio, and Domequil faced fabricated and non-bailable charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Domequil and Cumpio were arraigned on 18 February 2020. Cabaljao, Legion and Abinguña were arraigned on 2 June 2020. On 23 June 2020, the Tacloban City regional trial court denied the activists’ motion to quash the defective” search warrant used during the raid, as well as the information filed against them, reject evidence seized during the raid, and return seized items that were not included in the search warrant. Six years after, the Tacloban City Regional Trial Court Branch 46 under Judge Lolita Mercado continues to conduct the trial on Abinguña’s case, as the prosecution has presented only less than half of their listed witnesses, effectively delaying the proceedings and prolonging his detention.
The filing of baseless cases against them did not stop even after they were put to jail.
In 2022, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) filed charges of terrorism financing against Cumpio and Domequil, after the two sought to retrieve the amount of ₱557,360 which the authorities confiscated during the 2020 raid. The amount came from fundraising initiatives for the Stand with Samar-Leyte campaign and was also intended to support Frenchie’s radio broadcasting work. The seized funds, which were not declared in the police inventory during the arrest of Cumpio and Domequil, were later placed under a civil forfeiture case in Manila, which the court initially decided in favor of the government in December 2022.
While detained, Abinguña was informed that there were arrest warrants against him for two trumped up double murder and attempted murder charges filed before the Regional Trial Court Branch 21 of the 8th Judicial Region under Judge Noel Sermense in Laoang, Northern Samar. Frenchie was also supposed to face the same charges, but the court later granted her motion to quash the charges. The trumped-up charges were solely based on the testimony a so-called “rebel returnee,” who tried to link them to an alleged New People’s Army ambush in October 2019. Abinguña’s motion to quash had been denied, and the trial will commence.
On October 29, 2025, the Court of Appeals overturned the Manila Regional Trial Court’s forfeiture order, ruling that the AMLC had no legal basis to seize the ₱557,360 cash in 2020. The Court noted there was “a dearth of reason to believe” that Cumpio and Domequil were involved in any illegal activity and stressed that neither had been officially designated or listed as terrorists.
On January 22, 2026, Cumpio and Domequil were acquitted by the Tacloban City Regional Trial Court Branch 45 of the trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. In the other decision issued by the same court, they were convicted of terrorism financing and sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison. Cumpio and Domequil’s counsels are set to be appealed before the higher courts.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in cooperation with the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, families of Tacloban 5 and Karapatan, recently published this case tracker: https://civicspace-casetracker.rfkhumanrights.org/cases/frenchie-mae-cumpio-marielle-domequil-and-alexander-philip-abinguna/
The Relevance of the Tacloban 5 Case
February 7, 2026 marks the six long years of the unjust arrest and detention of the Tacloban 5 – Alexander Philip “Chakoy” Abinguña, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Marielle Domequil, Mira Legion, and Marissa Cabaljao.
Their case exposes how judicial harassment, fabricated charges, counter-terrorism laws and years of unjust detention, are used by the State to crush dissent and silence journalists, humanitarian workers, activists, and human rights defenders. The ordeal of the Tacloban 5 is a call for us that now more than ever, the people should stand to defend our rights to freedom of expression, association, movement, and liberty—all of which have been under constant attack by the State in the six long years of their detention.
On February 7, we continue to call:
FREE THE TACLOBAN 5!
DISMISS ALL TRUMPED-UP CHARGES VS TACLOBAN 5!
FREE ALEXANDER PHILIP ABINGUÑA, FRENCHIE MAE CUMPIO, AND MARIELLE DOMEQUIL!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
An Invitation to Action
In the lead-up to February 7, 2026, individuals and organizations are encouraged to take the following actions:
- TAKE PHOTOS of yourself or your organization holding placards with the calls above.
- RECORD VIDEOS explaining briefly why and how you support the call to free the Tacloban 5.
- WRITE AND PUBLISH STATEMENTS expressing solidarity and support.
- SIGN ON TO THE CALL by endorsing the sign-on statement for the release of Abinguña, Cumpio and Domequil.
PLEASE SIGN HERE: https://bit.ly/4qQerH1 - HOLD EDUCATION SESSIONS, publicly or within your organizations, on the arrest and detention of the Tacloban 5 and the plight of nearly 700 political prisoners in the Philippines.
February 7: Day of Action for the Tacloban 5
- ORGANIZE AND MOBILIZE actions in schools, communities, newsrooms, and other spaces.
- JOIN THE SOCIAL MEDIA RALLY and use the hashtags
#FreeTacloban5 #DismissTheCharges #FreeAllPoliticalPrisonersPH
In Manila, Karapatan and various groups will hold a protest action at the Department of Justice office on February 6, 2026.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.