The Right to the City and Housing Struggle in the Philippines: Questioning the Legitimacy of Occupy Bulacan

In 2017, thousands of urban poor Filipinos marched to Bulacan, Philippines and occupied 5,300 empty government-owned housing units. While the urban poor claimed victory against homelessness and market-based housing policies, critics called the takeover illegal and the occupiers thieves. Using semi-structured interviews and media sources, this thesis focuses on the legitimacy of Occupy Bulacan and its significance in the context of the Philippine urban poor movement. Taking inspiration from Lefebvres right to the city and counter-project, the legitimacy of the occupation is assessed by presenting the contrasting views on the correct balance between the right to appropriation and the right to property, between use value and exchange value, and between right to participation and the tenets of liberal democracy. It is argued that Occupy Bulacan is a social movements counter-project that employed occupation as a place-based strategy in taking back rights and wielding power.