Western Visayas Regional Director Stephen M. Leonidas of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is eyeing all pending legal cases in the region be “wiped out” before the end of July 2019.
“Right now, we are targeting zero backlogs as far as pending cases are concerned. We wanted that before the end of July, the remaining balance of pending legal cases will be wiped out,” he said in his message during the Tuesday launch of the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD)-Free 2020 in Iloilo City.
He added Western Visayas is the first region in the country to launch the zero backlog strategy of Agrarian Reform Secretary John R. Castriciones.
In a follow-up interview, he said that of the 1,800 pending cases at the regional office, they have already unloaded 1,000 cases last May.
“Every week, our legal division gathers for a case review. Every day they can finish no less than 80 cases. In three days, they were able to finish 240 last week,” he said.
He said the July target is already long but gave the leeway for the cleansing of the balances.
The majority of the cases are petitions or protests of coverage and petitions for inclusion or exclusion. Other cases are applications for exemption, transfer action or on agrarian law implementation.
He said that among the provinces in the region, Negros Occidental has the highest number of cases.
He revealed that to coincide with the LAD, he already directed the Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer of Negros Occidental to submit cases that affect the land acquisition process to be prioritized.* (Perla Lena NDB)