The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is hoping that the Aquino government would rein in human rights abuses following the increase in violations for the nine years that President Arroyo was in Malacañang.

CHR Chairwoman Leila M. de Lima expressed optimism that the new dispensation is keen on upholding human rights, noting that President-elect Benigno Aquino III has the mandate to clean up the mess that has made the Philippines the cynosure of the community of nations.

De Lima made the pitch during the Human Rights National Monitoring Mechanism (NMM) Public Forum at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati last June 10.

She said the high voter turnout and the mandate received by Aquino meant that the Filipino people want him to "usher in a new era in Philippine politics."

"People sought to elect a new set of leaders, politicians who will work for a more equitable prosperity instead of their own corrupt private gain; politicians who will respect and strengthen our democratic institutions instead of working to undermine accountability, weaken checks and balances, and circumvent legal limits; and politicians who will pay more than lip service to human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL)," De Lima added.

"It is the end of a fairly dismal era, where members of civil society were made targets of military operations in brazen violation of IHL, where much of the government response to credible allegations of abuse was simply to issue blanket denials, attack the credibility of whistleblowers and witnesses, and create task forces and launch investigations with suspect agendas, and an era where a convoy full of journalists, advocates and civilians could simply be abducted in broad daylight and brought to a grisly end nearby, with the perpetrators confident in the belief that they were beyond culpability or accountability," she stressed.

"It is no secret, we completely expect the soon-to-be-inaugurated Aquino administration to perform better in terms of human rights protection and promotion. Particularly the broad and echoing theme of rights abuses against those who are branded as enemies of the State will end, just as it had faded in the waning weeks of the current administration. And this will pave the way for redirecting our energies to a vast number of human rights issues that have been largely ignored, particularly economic, social and cultural human rights, instead of fighting fires caused by an insidious, secret campaign of political terror and civil rights impairment," De Lima noted.