The Value of the Manila Declaration on International Dispute Settlement in a Case in Which the Philippines is a Party

1. “A dispute is a disagreement on a point of law or fact, a conflict of legal views or of interests between two persons”: this well-known definition is set out in the Mavrommatis case of 1924 and repeated in a number of other verdicts of the two Hague Courts.1 2. In its Judgment of 1995 in the East Timor case, the ICJ stressed in addition: “In order to establish the existence of a dispute, ‘It must be shown that the claim of one party is positively opposed by the other’ (South West Africa, Preliminary Objections, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1962, p.328); and further: ‘Whether there exists an international dispute is a matter for objective determination’ (Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, First Phase, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1950, p.74)”. On this basis, the Court rejected the objection of Australia that the matter was in fact of a dispute of Portugal with Indonesia: “Portugal has, rightly or wrongly, formulated complaints of fact and law against Australia which the latter has denies. By virtue of denial, there is a legal dispute”.2

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