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Urbanization and the Politics of Land in the Manila Region

Land ownership has long been a source and outcome of political power in the Philippines. This article shows how in the 1990s land and politics continued to be closely entwined, but the disposal of agricultural land for urban uses, rather than its ownership, was sought by the powerful. By examining the process of land use conversion in Manila's extended metropolitan region, two dimensions of the politics of land are examined: policy choices relating to the uses of land that reflect a particular set of developmental priorities and the facilitation of conversion through the use of political power relations to circumvent regulations. These points are made at three interconnected scales: the national scale of policy formulation, the local scale of policy implementation and regulation, and the personal scale of everyday power relations in rural areas. The article draws on fieldwork in the rapidly urbanizing province of Cavite, south of Manila.