The faith. The fight. The force. The flight.

Titled “The Faith. The Fight. The Force. The Flight,” this research is an urban governance-related study which analyzes the interactive processes that involve a self-organized community called Buklod Tao in the urban municipality of San Mateo in Rizal Province, Philippines. It describes the evolution of interactions within the organization as well as interactions with other organizations and institutions including the local government. It explains how these interactive processes led to positive outcomes such as increase in knowledge, coming up with win-win solutions for problems or issues and creation of new institutional structures for the benefit of the organization. It also maps out the build up of factors --- such as rules, divergent perceptions on problems/issues and strategy formation, commitment and collective action or activities --- that influenced the interactions and outcomes. Data in this research reveals that, on one hand, rules, divergent perceptions on issues/problems and strategy formation, commitment and collective action influenced the interaction processes. On the other hand, they have also directly influenced the outcomes of the processes. Hence, it is important to know the underlying factors that contribute to the success of an interaction process in any organization. These processes, especially in civil society organizations such as Buklod Tao, helps in leveraging the kind of governance any city desires. It is recommended that other institutions such as the local government and the private sector decipher the dynamics of such processes in civil society or people’s organizations to be able to have a better grasp of how to develop or form partnerships within the urban arena.