ABSTRACT
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are an important part of civil society in the Philippines, accounting for roughly half of registered civil society organizations. They complement the state and market as providers of public goods and services but also help to hold the state and market to account through lobbying and campaigning as well as through the organization and representation of traditionally marginalized classes and social groups. The fortunes of NGOs in the Philippines have varied over the decades in the ever-changing political landscape in which they operate. Civil society accounts for a smaller slice of economic activity in the Philippines than in other countries, limiting the economic significance of Philippine NGOs. But their political role is accentuated by the weakness of the party system and by the recourse by the state to patterns of rule associated with the former authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The regime of Rodrigo Duterte may well bolster the role of NGOs and draw them back in patterns of contentious politics which developed during the martial law years.
