18 DENR mediators to tackle land cases

Some 18 mediators from Central Visayas will handle 124 land-related cases this year in the Department of Environment of Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7).

The mediators with backgrounds on legal and land management make up the newly created DENR-7 Land Management Service (LMS) Mediation Service Center, which is tasked to look over the land disputes in the region.

The mediation service would ensure “speedy and impartial justice and declog dockets of land cases in the department,” said Executive Director Maximo O. Dichoso of DENR-7 in a statement last week.

This year the mediation center will investigate 124 cases, 80 of which are from Cebu, 20 each from Bohol and Negros Oriental and 4 cases in Siquijor.

Last week, Asst. Ombudsman Virgina Palanca Santiago officiated the oath taking of the 18 mediators at the DENR-7 Training Hall, Banilad, Mandaue City. /Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya