Abstract

Djorina Velasco probes into the realities shaping possible political participation by marginalized groups. She portrays the challenges to meaningful participation in the Philippine urban system, where patronage politics and populism are omnipresent threats. She surveys the political responses that are being developed by combining participatory local governance initiatives with progressive party-building. She first examines the challenges to meaningful political participation of marginalized groups by describing the context of contemporary urban poor mobilizations in Manila, and secondly at the issue of politicizing citizens' participation.