Bohol town mayor in hot water

A Bohol town mayor is facing another complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged false information on the province's water source's location.

The Bugwak Farmers Association and several residents of Sevilla, Bohol are slapping Mayor Maria Pureza Chatto of Balilihan town of perjury raps and falsification of public documents for falsely claiming that the Bugwak Spring from which the local government unit will source its water is located in Balilihan when in it is "situated in the neighboring town of Sevilla, Bohol."

In a 14-page complaint obtained by the DAILY TRIBUNE, the complainants accused Chatto of misleading over the actual location of the Bugwak Spring "to bypass the posting and notice requirements of the National Water Resources Board."

"More importantly, Mayor Pureza Chatto knows that Balilihan has been paying royalties to Sevilla for many years for the water that Balilihan extracts from Bugwak Spring," the complaint read.

"Thus, it is clear that she deliberately misled the NWRB on the location of the water source in the Water Permit Application that she signed under oath and submitted to the NWRB," it added.

The complainants also argued that Chatto's false claim prevented Sevilla, the Bohol mayor and its residents "from being duly informed about the water permit application and exercising their right to present comments or opposition."