About two-thirds of the Philippine population resides in the rural areas, earning an average family income of only half of their urban counterparts. It is therefore, not surprising that much interest has been expressed in the progress of rural development strategies, the impact they have had on rural communities, the means by which they can be made more effective and the various alternatives that exist. This timely book by Gelia Castillo deals with a number of temporary and, to some extent, controversial issues regarding Philippine rural development. More specifically, it looks into two important aspects of rural development, namely: rural institutions and people’s participation. The former is about institutional changes in the rural areas: changes in the way things are being done, as well as changes in social organization and in the relationships among actors in that setting. Whether these changes are deliberately designed, the relationships between farmer and hired farm labor, and between landlord and tenant, they nonetheless form part and parcel of the Philippine rural setting. Thus to fully understand rural development in the country, one must appreciate these institutional changes.
