Asia

Philippine anti-drug crackdown suffers legal setback

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2016 file photo, Filipino men are rounded up and have zip ties on their wrists following a police raid at an alleged drug den as part of the continuing "War on Drugs" campaign of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte near the Payatas dumpsite community in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines. The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, prohibited a group of police officers from entering the slum community to prevent them from threatening villagers who have accused them of ruthlessly killing four residents in an anti-drug raid, in the latest setback for the president's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2016 file photo, a policeman inspects an area where a drug suspect was killed following a raid at an alleged drug den where two drug suspects were killed and about 90 people arrested during operations as part of the continuing "War on Drugs" campaign of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte near the Payatas dumpsite community in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines. The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, prohibited a group of police officers from entering the slum community to prevent them from threatening villagers who have accused them of ruthlessly killing four residents in an anti-drug raid, in the latest setback for the president's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2015 file photo, an informal settler living at an garbage dumpsite community known as Payatas carries a bale of cleaned plastic sheets for recycling at suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, prohibited a group of police officers from entering the slum community to prevent them from threatening villagers who have accused them of ruthlessly killing four residents in an anti-drug raid, in the latest setback for President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) (The Associated Press)

The Philippine Supreme Court has prohibited a group of police officers from entering a slum community to prevent them from threatening villagers who have accused them of ruthlessly killing four residents in an anti-drug raid, in the latest setback for the president's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.

Court spokeswoman Gleo Guerra said Tuesday the temporary order is meant to protect villagers who petitioned the court last week to stop police anti-drug raids in the Payatas community and help them obtain police records to prove the slain men and one survivor were not drug dealers and did not fight back or provoke the police to open fire.

The national police chief on Monday indefinitely stopped all police anti-drug raids and disbanded police anti-narcotics units following a police abuse scandal.