Church leaders have urged Filipinos to help remove new signs of despotism and to protect the democracy for which former president Corazon Aquino had struggled and sacrificed.

Claims made by the Philippines government to a good human rights track record "are utterly false", the Rev Berlin Guerrero told the United Nations Committee against Torture this week. He said it was "remiss in its responsibility to prevent torture".

Human rights violations in the Philippines have been addressed in US Episcopal Church testimony to the House of Representatives' Committee on Appropriations and Sub-Committee on State Foreign Operations.

A report launched today in the UK will call for a moratorium on new mining in the Philippines. The Church of England however has a substantial investment in the companies which the report challenges.