MANILA, Philippines - Newly-installed Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales vowed to prioritize the alleged torture of a crime suspect in Tondo as she assumed office Friday.

Rosales told media that police brutality will be her priority as new chair of the CHR, with the case of the Tondo torture on top of the list. She said the case will be the first of several investigations on torture incidents involving the police.

The controversial torture video, which was first aired on ABS-CBN last August 17, showed an alleged policeman pulling a rope attached to a naked man's genitals.

The video showed the torturer physically and verbally abusing the torture victim while other men, some of whom were wearing police uniforms, looked on.

Rosales said she will also focus on the case of the so-called Morong 43 health workers who were detained by the military on suspicions that they are communist rebels.

The new CHR chief said she will sit down with the Senate to work for an increase of the agency's budget.

Rosales was welcomed formally into the agency by all the commissioners and directors at a mid-year planning conference of the CHR.

In her statement of acceptance of her appointment, Rosales paid tribute to her predecessor even as she rallied the CHR around her.

She also vowed to work against bloody initiations among fraternities, exploitative labor practices, domestic violence against wives and children and among armed resistance groups, as well as violations of international humanitarian law.

She also urged non-state armed groups to publish their own manuals on international humanitarian law, following the lead of the AFP.

She also will work for the passage of amendments to the CHR Charter, undertake institutional reform in the commission, oversee the enforcement of exiting and new HR laws like the anti-torture law and IHL and call for the passage of IHR like the Tome Statute and the Covenant of Enforced Disappearances.