MANILA, Philippines?Former Akbayan Rep. Loretta Rosales on Friday formally assumed the chairmanship of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), noting that she has big shoes to fill and telling her detractors not to be afraid of her.

Rosales, whose formal appointment came weeks after President Benigno Aquino announced she was his choice for the CHR, said she would continue giving priority to protecting human rights against police brutality and the summary killings by state agents.

She said she also intends to focus on beefing up the agency?s mandate through an amended charter and a better budget, instituting reforms within the commission and enforcing the antitorture law and other international humanitarian laws.

She disclosed that she received her appointment papers earlier this week and subsequently took her oath before Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Rosales? appointment to the CHR did not sit well with militant groups who belong to a rival faction in the leftist movement.

?Nothing to fear?

These groups have castigated her for, among others, supposedly linking legal progressive groups to the communist movement, and for saying that the killings of activists were part of an internal purge among communists.

But she said that her critics have nothing to fear from her, since she intends to treat them with equality, in the same manner that she treats everybody else.

?All they have to do is come to me. They should not fear me, they should not suspect me. They should look at me as officially I?m now the chair,? she said in a press briefing.

But she also said she intends to address the human rights concerns of all groups, militants and state agents alike.

?There is universality of human rights,? she said.

Rosales, a victim of abuses during martial law, had led the fight for compensation for martial law victims. She had also headed the House committee on human rights.

Welcomed

Rosales was welcomed by all four CHR commissioners at the turnover ceremonies at the Imperial Suites in Quezon City on Friday.

In her speech during the event, Rosales acknowledged that following in the footsteps her predecessor was a tall order. She noted that former CHR chief Leila de Lima, who is now Secretary of Justice, showed the agency the importance of integrity, independence and courage in protecting human rights. But she also said the CHR personnel?s support was important.