In recent years, the Philippine government has undertaken a number of reforms for decentralising urban governance and increasing the role of community-based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations in urban policy and programme development and implementation. Popular interpretations see these changes as an outcome of the 'people's power' movement against centralisation and authoritarianism and stress the potential for increased civil society participation in government in the future. This paper critically examines these interpretations with reference to the situation of CBOs in informal settlements in Metropolitan Manila. Specifically, it argues that decentralisation reflects the interests of a variety of politically powerful social groups, including not only organisations of civil society, but also local political families and international and domestic business interests. In addition, a number of factors continue to inhibit meaningful civil society participation. These include the lack of local government capacity in many cities and municipalities and the existence of powerful economic interests at the local level that compete with civil society organisations for influence.
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