Dear PAO,

I have been in possession of a certain land, and my application for a patent is pending before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. My problem started when I was on vacation in Manila. A certain Dino immediately occupied my land and introduced improvements therein. I demanded from him that he remove the improvements and vacate the land, or I would file a case in court in order to regain possession. Dino laughed at me and said that the case will fail because the court has no jurisdiction over public lands, instead, it is the DENR who is in charge of these lands. Is it true that the court has no authority to resolve possession of public land?