GENDER OMBUD REPORT 2016 18 REGION IX The CHR Regional Office extended legal assistance to 322 women in 2016; 32 cases involved violence against women. Identified barriers to women’s access to justice include generally low of knowledge of laws and services addressing GBV, as well as low awareness on specific gender issues of marginalized women’s groups such as LGBTIs, internally displaced persons, and people with disabilities. For its part, the PRO-IX reported conducting gender awareness sessions for its personnel, including the 33 staff of the PRO IX-WCPU. REGION XI The CHR Regional Office monitoring documented several good practices in the LGUs, like, the establishment of the Office of the Special Counsel for GBV. This office provides legal assistance and lawyering services to VAW survivors, in additon to shelter and other needed support services. REGION XII The Regional Office documented 29 cases of Anti-VAWC Law violatons in 2016. Requests for legal assistance are often on cases of economic abuse, specifically financial support. There were also three cases of elderly women detained for their involvement in the Kidapawan protest.26 The regional office also noted the vulnerability to discrmination of certain groups of women such as Muslim women, Moro women, indigenous women, and women working in the informal sector. With regard to the establishment of Anti-VAWC desks in the barangays, although such desks are found in the barangays, its compliance with the standards set by national policies remains problematic and closely linked to the socio-cultural factors affecting VAW. These include factors such as low awareness among women in remote areas of their rights and VAW redress mechanisms, the stigma attached to rape survivors which discourages reporting the crime, and lack of trust in the legal system. Related to the latter, many cases of VAW were addressed by some communities using customary laws that allow amicable settlement between the survivor and perpetrator. The PNP and the Local Social Welfare and Development Office have established protocols for VAW cases, but these are not always observed. From 30 March to 01 April 2016, farmers and their supporters formed a blockade at the Davao-Cotabato highway in Kidapawan, North Cotabato to protest the non-distribution of rice aid to El Niño-affected communities in the region. The protesters were violently dispersed resulting to at least two deaths and more than a hundred injured. The CHR issued a statement on its findings on the incident i.e., that the PNP and the protesters were at fault in in the incident. See related news report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (01 June 2016) http://newsinfo. inquirer.net/788667/chr-on-kidapawan-dispersal-both-protesters-govt-forces-at-fault 26