Graft raps filed vs. Bohol mayor, 6 others over alleged bogus water permit

Officials from the Bohol Clean Water Alliance (BCWA) have filed a complaint for graft and corruption against a Bohol town mayor and other government officials for allegedly granting a fraudulent water permit.

The complaint was filed against Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA); Senior State Counsel Rosario Elena Laborte-Cuevas of the Department of Justice (DOJ); Director Juanito Batalon of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); Director Roberto S. Soriano of the National Hydraulic Research Center (NHRC); Executive Director Sevillo D. David of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB); and Balilihan Mayor Maria Pureza Chatto before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The 25-page complaint indicated that complainants BCWA chairman Emmanuel Ramasola and president Erastus Leopando have accused NWRB members Rebuelta-Teh, Edillon, Laborte-Cuevas, Batalon, and Soriano of acting "with manifest partiality, evident bad faith, and gross negligence” when they affirmed the validity of the “fraudulently obtained” conditional water permit (CWP No. 01-22-20-008) issued to the local government unit (LGU) of Balilihan, Bohol.

They also pointed out that gross negligence was supposedly committed by NWRB's David over his alleged inaction when he allowed his co-respondents to issue the resolution granting Balilihan LGU a water permit when it was not entitled to.

The complainants said Chatto should also be criminally charged with violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for “acting in conspiracy with the other respondents…to affirm the earlier grant by the NWRB of the CWP to LGU Balilihan, even after it was found out that it was obtained falsely and fraudulently and after Respondent David had already concluded that the CWP was null and void ab initio.”

“The respondents should all be criminally charged… as they gave unwarranted benefit and preference to LGU Balilihan,” they said in the complaint.

In question is NWRB Resolution dated June 2, 2022 which the complainants said “prejudiced the constituents of Barangay Magsaysay and Sevilla, Bohol,”

“It is the height of inequity for LGU Balilihan to utilize water obtained from Bugwak Spring in Barangay Magsaysay, Sevilla, Bohol. It is an affront to Barangay Magsaysay and Sevilla’s territorial jurisdiction since LGU Balilihan did not secure their consent, much less inform them, before the start of the water supply project’s construction or even ask for a permit from Barangay Magsaysay or from LGU Sevilla,” they said.

An NWRB ocular inspection in December 2021 revealed “that the actual extraction point / exact location of the Bugwak Spring where the approved Conditional Water Permit of LGU Balilihan is located, is at Brgy. Magsaysay, Sevilla, Bohol,” according to the complainants.

GMA News Online reached out to Chatto through her official Facebook account for comment, but no response has yet been received as of posting.

Edillon, Rebuelta-Teh, and David were also contacted through their mobile numbers.—LDF, GMA Integrated News