MONITORING COMPLIANCE TO THE MAGNA CARTA OF WOMEN CAR 19 The DILG-CAR reported an 89.20 percent compliance with the establishment of AntiVAWC desks in the barangays. Provinces with barangays yet to have barangay Anti-VAWC desk are Benguet (57), Kalinga (50), Mountain Province (12), Ifugao (1), and Abra (1). On the other hand, a random visit by the Comission’s Regional Office to barangays in Baguio documented several good practices in the LGU to address VAW. Apart from functional Anti-VAWC desks, its personnel are trained to conduct community gender awareness sessions as part of preventive actions against VAW. The barangays also accredit faith-based organizations to provide temporary shelters for VAW survivors. However, these actions seem to be the exception rather than the norm. The CAR barangays identified the following difficulties with regard to addressing VAW: accessing the 5% GAD budget, desistance or lack of interest of the survivor in reporting, insufficient training for VAW Desks officers on GAD and proper handling of VAW cases, and absence of temporary shelters for VAW victim survivors. The PRO-CAR conducted 42 region-wide activities on women and children in 2016. There were also no cases of GBV committed by police officers recorded. WOMEN’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE Ensuring women’s access to justice in cases of GBV is a salient feature of the MCW, which enjoins government agencies to “give priority to the defense and protection of women against gender-based offenses and help women attain justice and healing,” (Sec. 9). In eight of the 15 CHR regional consultations on the CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19, the participants cited the low awareness of women and children on their rights and VAW redress mechanisms and support services as a major issue. This was attributed to lack of information on women’s human rights and the pertinent laws, especially in rural and far-flung areas. While there were claims that cases of VAW were rampant and increasing, many of these were unreported or undocumented. Women hesitate or refuse to report cases of abuse due to the following reasons: 1. Social stigma attached to women and children in “broken families”; 2. Discouraging attitude of service providers which includes dismissing and trivializing of their experiences; 3. Low level of awareness on available remedies, even of duty providers such as Barangay Captains or Kagawads; 4. Limited financial resources to process and file charges. Access to justice is also hampered by the lack of documentation of VAW cases, based on the reports of the seven (7) of the 15 CHR Regional Offices. There were also factors affecting women’s interest in pursuing their cases such as insufficient support services, lack of facilities, and delays in court proceedings, in addition to poor quality services