OF THE many executive actions and pronouncements by US President Donald Trump after his return to the White House last January, one of the most consequential for the world is his order sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC), over what he calls the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless” actions targeting the US and its genocidal ally, Israel.
What happened of course is vintage Trump. As back in June 2020, Trump also sanctioned the ICC, calling it a “kangaroo court masquerading as a legal body” for having the temerity to announce it wants US soldiers tried for “war crimes” they committed in Afghanistan.
This time around, bearing the brunt of Trump’s wrath is ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who is already enmeshed in a scandal of his own making over a complaint of sexual abuse involving one the ICC staffers. Additionally, Khan is also accused of issuing an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 in exchange for the British Government freeing his brother in jail for pedophilia (Pinoy Exposé, November 8, 2024).
As Trump’s executive order of February 6, 2025, stated, the sanctions against the Khan covered “all property and interest in property that are in the United States…”
The sanction also prohibits, basically, ANYONE, from cooperating with Khan or the ICC in any manner, shape or form, moving forward.
Interestingly, a careful reading of the EO can only lead to the conclusion that for Filipinos, one significant, “unintended consequence” of Trump’s decision is that it benefited not only Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (under ICC arrest list since November 2024) but also, former president and now private citizen, Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
The definition of “protected persons” under Section 8 of Trump’s EO and whom the ICC cannot dare touch or investigate include “any foreign person that is a citizen or lawful resident of an ally of the United States that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction over that person or is not a state party to the Rome Statute, including:
(A) current or former members of the armed forces of such ally of the United States;
(B) current or former elected or appointed government officials of such ally of the United States…”
The facts are clear and need no elaboration: We are a treaty ally of the United States and we, like the USA, is not a member (anymore) of the ICC.
And yes, President Duterte is a “former elected government official” of an ally of the United States with whom Trump, incidentally, has had a good relationship.
We are sure that when President Trump signed the EO, ‘Saving Private Citizen Duterte’ is the farthest from his mind.
And as we are sure that no one among our officials would have the nerve to tell Trump to “edit” his EO so they can use the ICC for the political persecution of the former president, he has just been freed from any worry from hereon.
Too, with USAID (Agency for International Development) and NED (National Endowment for Democracy) “decapitated” by Trump, their bribed NGOs, members of the media and corrupt officials here are suddenly starving of funds and immobilized from launching any action or propaganda needed to make the public agree to have PDU30 incarcerated by the ICC in a foreign dungeon somewhere.
For PDU30, this is another favorable, unintended consequence, of Trump’s action.