Slain DENR exec probing ‘several’ forest land cases

SAN PEDRO CITY – The slain employee of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Rizal province was in charge of investigating several forest land disputes in the province, the provincial environmental officer said.

Dominador Lucas, head of the Compliance Monitoring and Investigation Unit of DENR-Rizal, was gunned down at 8:25 a.m. in Barangay (village) Dela Paz in Antipolo City, according to Supt. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson of the Calabarzon police.

Lucas was waiting for a ride to go to work at the DENR office in Taytay, when a motorycle-riding gunman approached and shot him in his  face and body. He died instantly.

In a phone interview, DENR Rizal chief Eleazar Alaira said Lucas was handling cases that involved property and forest land disputes.

“He was handling several cases so it’s difficult to say (whether the killing had anything to do with his work) at the moment. The SOCO (Scene of the Crime) had just finished its investigation,” Alaira
said.