Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) — Six national government officials and a Bohol town mayor are facing a criminal complaint for granting an allegedly “fraudulent” permit for a ₱95-M water supply project in the province.
Some officers of the Bohol Clean Water Alliance (BCWA) filed the graft and corruption case before the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday, Aug. 9.The respondents include Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon, and Department of Justice (DOJ) Senior State Counsel Rosario Elena Laborte-Cuevas.Other respondents were Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Director Juanito Batalon, National Hydraulic Research Center (NHRC) Director Roberto Soriano, National Water Resources Board (NWRB) Executive Director Sevillo David, and Mayor Maria Pureza Chatto of Balilihan, Bohol.In their 25-page complaint, BCWA Chairman Emmanuel Ramasola and BCWA President Erastus Leopando explained that the conflict arose from the issuance of a water permit in the local government of Balilihan over the Bugwak Spring.
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The BCWA officers claimed that Chatto “fraudulently obtained” the permit from the NWRB “by misrepresenting that Bugwak Spring from where the LGU will source its water is located in Balilihan, when in fact it is located in the adjacent municipality of Sevilla, Bohol.Specifically, the complainants said the water source is found in Barangay Magsaysay, Municipality of Sevilla.The respondents, they said, gave the Bohol mayor “unwarranted benefit, advantage, and preference causing undue injury to the local government of Sevilla, Bohol, its residents, and Richli [Corporation]. The respondents should all be criminally charged… as they gave unwarranted benefit and preference to LGU Balilihan,” they added.In a statement issued Thursday, Chatto said she has yet to receive a copy of the complaint, but stressed that it was “baseless and politically motivated.Chatto also said the complaint was part of efforts “to harass me and distract me from my work.
“I want to assure the people of Balilihan that I am fighting for water rights for our town. I have always been transparent about my efforts to secure a reliable water supply for our people, and I will continue to do so,” she said.
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