culturally sensitive services and facilities and of efforts to bring services to those living in inaccessible areas. We hope to have more of these. There is also dynamics in the family that says contraception should be based on the couple’s decision, with the decision of the husband often times prevailing. In these cases, male spouses become barriers and couples are unable to arrive at a joint decision. We have documented instances where women who stood and took a stand for themselves were beaten after, those whose explanations of “we have to, because we cannot afford to bring up one more child” were met with violence. We have to ensure that in these cases, there should be protection and remedies for these women. We have to ensure that women are able to choose without fear of being subjected to different forms of violence. In sum, discrimination, disrespect, disregard, disinformation and dynamics bring about many practices and policies that turn into barriers leading to the disempowerment of women, violation of their human rights, and violation of specific laws like the Magna Carta of Women and the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law. In terms of context, we must include in the discussion the plight of our health workers --- in the government, in NGOs and in communities. During the inquiry and the fact finding we heard the complaints of doctors, midwives, nurses, and many Barangay Health Workers (BHWs). As volunteers, BHWs cater to the entire community receiving minimal and sometimes no allowance at all. BHW allowances are dependent on the LGU, and their appointment are often politicized. They are however very significant in the delivery of health services in the community level. Overburdened and underpaid, BHWs continue to partner with the LGU and the DOH in delivering services to the community, a task that should be duly recognized and compensated. In the case of doctors, nurses and midwives, we’ve often heard that there simply aren’t enough. The standard patient to doctor, nurses or midwife ration is often unmeet, especially in the case of Doctors. In Sorsogon, for instance, one doctor is in charge of eight RHUs. She sees 200 clients a day. If we divide this by 8 hours, without any break at all, you will only get to see a patient for 25 or 35 seconds. These are realities on the ground. And while we’ve heard many accounts that health workers often mistreat persons with disability and indigenous peoples, we also know that many of these health workers are also in dire circumstances that do not create an enabling environment for them to mind their manners when dealing with patients. Not excusing such attitude, the Commission sees the urgency of addressing 5