[The Slingshot] Christmas is chilly in Den Haag

I want to greet the household of the prisoner Rodrigo Duterte a merry and significant Christmas. Regardless of the biting chilly of the Dutch winters, could his relations who’re with him in The Hague discover the peaceable and accepting forbearance that this can be the primary, if ever, of many Christmases they hope to spend with him within the Netherlands. 

For prisoner Duterte won’t ever be again within the Philippines ever, if we go by the jurisprudential development of the Worldwide Prison Courtroom’s pre-trial  chamber 1.

Each trick within the lawyer’s e book of Nicholas Kaufman had crashed and burned — the interim launch, the problem of non-jurisdiction as a result of the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019, and Rodrigo Duterte not being match to face trial on account of cognitive impairment. 

It’s simple to learn Kaufman’s intentions: cease the trial, safe the consumer’s launch, or delay the proceedings. 

Enter Robin Padilla with an evaluation that he thinks is rocket science and which he entitled, “Asking for Justice from the Creator.” 

Padilla: “You might be crucifying an 80-year previous man, you denied him the home arrest that the Filipinos are demanding.” Did we? The Filipinos in my neck of the woods didn’t. Test your neighborhood, people, in case your neighbors did.

Padilla stated the sanctions that prohibit ICC judges and prosecutors from accessing US-based banking companies, bank card firms, and expertise platforms comparable to Amazon and Uber, are a part of God’s revenge on the court docket for denying Duterte’s freedom.  

Disclaimer: like Padilla I’m no worldwide relations knowledgeable or declare to be one like Alantroy Rogando Sasot. We don’t must be as a result of the intention of the Trump administration is simple to learn, until we come from the DDS Faux Information Farm like they do.

The US’ ICC sanctions are NEVER about Duterte. As early as June this 12 months, Rappler had already carried out a reality verify that Duterte is just not the rationale for the US sanctions towards some ICC judges. The faux information was revealed within the YouTube channel “Philippines Trending Information,” which at that interval had 526,000 subscribers.

Robin Padilla’s “justice from the Creator” is a reprise of that faux information rubbish. The unique headline was “Malaking excellent news! Sobrang napahiya ang Palasyo sa balitang ito. Lahat nataranta?” (Excellent news! The Palace was completely humiliated by this information. Everybody panicked?)

It was a typical clickbait headline that usually attracts Duterte Diehard Supporters to fall into trollist conclusion with out the necessity for verification and vetting. This was even when the video narration made the flagrant falsehood that the 4 ICC judges sanctioned by Trump had been dealing with the Duterte case.

Rappler’s June 2025 reality verify stated: “The US sanctions had been because of the struggle tribunal’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a previous choice to open a case into alleged struggle crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.”

“The ICC judges sanctioned by Trump’s administration are Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibañez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia.”

Alapini Gansou, one of many three  judges concerned within the Duterte pre-trial case, can also be concerned within the Netanyahu case, therefore the rationale for her inclusion. Ibañez Carranza, who dominated towards the Kaufman plea for interim launch in her capability as an ICC Appeals choose, can also be a part of the Netanyahu case.

Though the sanctions don’t have anything to do with the Duterte case, we will solely learn the minds of his household and followers of the ridiculous state of affairs of their desires — that ultimately the ICC will fold up and therefore will ship prisoner Duterte dwelling.

The ICC won’t essentially be pushed to despair by the US. A non-member nation, the US is aware of that the ICC had lengthy survived with out American moolah. The tribunal’s prime contributor is in reality Japan. The remainder of its prime 10 contributors are Germany, France, the UK, Italy, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Spain, and Australia.  

Sweden is a significant supporter of the Belief Fund for Victims (TFV) with substantial multi-year commitments. Then there’s the highly effective European Union and all its member states that collectively contribute considerably, each straight and thru particular packages.

Salaries as an illustration, don’t come from the US. Decide Ibañez, nevertheless, remits her salaries to her dwelling in Peru. During which case, the switch passes by monetary functions that use US {dollars}. 

Can the ICC survive the sanctions? 

The Trump sanctions are discretionary on the president, that’s one limitation. Secondly, it will likely be selective by truly excluding US residents working within the court docket in addition to court docket functionaries from shut ally international locations such because the UK. During which case, the Philippine authorities is an in depth US ally.

JusticeInfo.web zeroed in on the Netanyahu case for instance:

“Within the present circumstances Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, is a British nationwide. The 2 predominant people accountable for the Palestine investigation, standing behind Khan in his video saying the arrest warrants final Could, are Brenda Hollis, who’s a U.S. citizen who can’t be placed on a sanctions checklist as a result of it’s just for overseas individuals, and Andrew Cayley from the UK.”

Khan, nevertheless, is presently on depart. Hollis and Cayley usually are not. However they’re secure. Discover the selectivity.

As we write, “court docket officers and others are working to give you workarounds and determine a strategy to do enterprise that doesn’t contain transacting overseas foreign money exchanges by New York,” JusticeInfo avers.

Can the ICC nonetheless pay salaries?

The Financial Occasions experiences that 2025 salaries have already been paid prematurely. It additionally experiences that the tribunal has already began contemplating different sources for banking companies and software program. Suffice it to say that there isn’t any dearth of that within the EU. 

The most recent sanctions may put the US on a collision course. Below the Rome Statute, judges and prosecutors are elected by the ICC’s state events. The ICC insists that the rule of legislation can’t be undermined.

“When judicial actors are threatened for making use of the legislation, it’s the worldwide authorized order itself that’s positioned in danger,” the court docket stated. Already, Dutch overseas minister David van Weel has condemned the US sanctions. 

So we count on pushbacks and diplomacy when vital. However total, the tribunal won’t fold up.

The Duterte case will quickly proceed to full trial standing. A 12 months from now, prisoner Duterte will nonetheless spend Christmas on the Scheveningen Detention Unit, and extra Christmases thereafter, hopefully for the sake of Philippine rule of legislation. 

Merry Christmas, prisoner Digong. Advance blissful new 12 months, Bato dela Rosa. – Rappler.com