MANILA, Philippines?By and large critical of Philippine media, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday issued her strongest condemnation yet of the massacre of at least 30 journalists in Maguindanao, rallying the nation to join hands so that it would never be under siege again.

?We must all join hands to strengthen our resolve that never again will rouge political leaders take the law into their hands and violate the law of the nation and the laws of God,? Arroyo said in a statement read by her Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in a news briefing.

Outside Malacanang, some 5,000 protesters, led by members of the media held a two-hour protest rally early in the day to demand swift justice for the victims of the grisly November 23 massacre in Maguindanao believed to have been ordered by a member of the Ampatuan clan, a powerful family in the region.

At least 64 people were killed in the incident, including at least 30 members of media.

Arroyo said that ?no nation can consider itself truly free if freedom of speech, political expression, and the press are not held as sacred.?

?Our nation has a history of a vibrant press. The murders in Mindanao that violated the human rights of every single victim also sent a chill down the spine of honest public servants and journalist champions of the public good,? she said in her statement.

?If there is a silver lining to this very dark cloud I hope it is to prick the conscience of the nation and to re-dedicate our nation to freedom of the press, freedom of political expression, and freedom to vote free from fear of violence and intimidation,? Arroyo added.

She acknowledged that the media are part of the essential fabric of the nation and help keep the check and balances in government.

Quoting from the statesman Thomas Jefferson, she said, ?The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.?

The Arroyo administration, hounded by a string of corruption scandals since she took office in January 2001, has come under constant scrutiny from the media.

She has also been criticized for the government?s inaction over the killings of journalists in her term.

A total of 67 journalists, excluding the Maguindanao massacre victims, have been killed in her nine years in office, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. But authorities said some of these deaths were not work-related.

Facing the Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas this month, Arroyo reminded the broadcast media to exercise objectivity and impartiality in reporting news, mindful of its implications on the country.