CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday vowed to impose tougher penalties for human rights violators.

In her speech at the closing of the two-day Mindanao Peace and Security Summit held at the Pryce Hotel here, the President said "hand in hand with the need for economic prosperity is the need to strengthen our institutions of government to ensure that civil rights and social justice are available to all Filipinos, not just a privileged few."

"We must weed out corruption, stop political violence, and build a strong system of justice that people can trust," she added.

The President said political violence has been with this nation for way too long. "We must band together as a people and as public servants to stop this violence once and for all."

She said the government would introduce into the new Congress "sweeping legislation that will transform our nation's response to political violence and remove this stain from our nation. Legislation that will guarantee swift justice through more funding for special courts to prosecute human rights violators."

"We will strengthen the rights of victims, including more money for enforcement. We will impose tougher penalties for human rights violators and for anyone committing a crime with a firearm," she stressed.

President Arroyo also vowed that the government will not stop until these human rights violators would be prosecuted.

"If you are armed and kill innocent civilians, you will be tracked down and prosecuted. If you are a communist terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a religious terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a rogue element of our own police or military, we will stop you," she said.

The Chief Executive said those public servants in uniform "have moral obligation to uphold the Constitution and to protect the innocent."

For this reason, President Arroyo said, "any violent crime that a member of the law enforcement or military community may commit against innocent people is even more wrong and must be stopped."

"No one is above the law," she added.

The Chief Executive said the country is entering a new era of civil and human rights.

"The frontline of this effort is built on lifting up our poor and liberating them from poverty. That is the most fundamental human right -- to live in dignity free from the fear of hunger and want."

"Our government will protect the political rights of any person who wishes to participate in our democracy however we might disagree on philosophy and approach.

We cannot stand idly by, however, and let the purveyors of violence cloak their agenda behind the innocent men and women they hold hostage to their failed ideology.

We will wrestle with these failed terrorists to the ground and free the nation to live in peace and harmony," she said.

President Arroyo called on Filipinos for the implementation of the Human Security Act by using it as a tool to stop terrorists from destroying vital facilities in the country and to protect the people from violence and chaos.

"We must work together to ensure that we respect the rights of our citizens," she said.(PNA)

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