The Department of Health: Challenges amidst decentralization and legal barriers During the course of the National Inquiry, the Commission has documented the efforts undertaken by the Department of Health (DOH) in the implementation and monitoring of the RPRH law and the challenges it faces. As a policy setting body and as the lead in monitoring the RPRH law through the National and Regional Implementation Monitoring Teams, the DOH has taken the lead in providing implementation guidelines for RPRH. With respect local government units, it has partnered with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the issuance of Memorandum Circular 2015- 145 which reiterates the roles LGUs in the implementation of the RPRH. Despite policy guidelines, however, the National Inquiry has shown that there is uneven implementation and support to RPRH and related DOH issuances and directives. In Sorsogon City, despite the efforts of the DOH and the Regional Implementation Team to reach out and dialogue with the Mayor on the implementation of RH and dispensation of artificial contraceptives, the Mayor’s resolve not to dispense artificial contraceptives remains. Efforts were unsuccessful and the LGU continued to return boxes of artificial family planning commodities, some of them according to accounts, have expired or are about to expire. In order to address unmet needs and amidst the limitations imposed by decentralization, the DOH responded through the training of nurses from NDPs and tasking them with dispensation of artificial FP commodities in Sorsogon City. Partnerships with CSOs like Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) were also forged to supplement the absence of commodities from the LGU facilities. It must be stated however that such measures are temporary and limited in coverage. The NDPs deployed are under contract and are tasked to cover five (5) barangays at a time; on the other hand, CSOs, while able to provide RH services in Sorsogon City, they are subject to attacks by the LGU. One of the staff of FPOP, for instance, has been branded as the ‘number one abortionist’ in Sorsogon City. On ordinances criminalizing and penalizing home births, the DOH explains the same as a misinterpretation of LGUs of the Departments encouragement of facility based deliveries. With the proliferation of such ordinances, and the outcry of indigenous groups and women in GIDA areas, representatives from the DOH admit the need to review and for once clarify the Department’s stand. It is clear from the Inquiry that the absence of 19