Balilihan mayor Pureza Chatto and the chairman of Richli Water met yesterday, Nov. 27, 2021, and discussed the issue regarding the Bugwak Spring, but the talks ended where the local government unit (LGU) retains an upper hand as there is no stopping the contractor, as of the moment, from completing the government project, involving the town’s waterworks, which is at front and center of the controversy.
More information about the issue on Bugwak Spring is published on pages 10 and 11 of this newspaper. More photos on the meeting is published on page 3 of Trending section.
In a phone interview, Mayor Chatto said the meeting occurred by chance at around 11 in the morning. The meeting ended with the LGU still able to continue with town’s waterworks project, which involves the laying of water pipes that will eventually bring water from Bugwak Spring to the water reservoirs of Balilihan Waterworks.
The mayor narrated that she was in the area to bring food for the police officers tasked to guard the government project, which is implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) via a private contractor.
Mayor Chatto said that while in the said barangay, she heard that Richli Water chairman Richard Lim was in the vicinity. As she was already there, Mayor Chatto decided to meet with the chairman of the water development company.
Reports say that Lim was accompanied by several people including two media personalities.
On the other hand, was with some companions including her daughter, lawyer Esther Patrisha Chatto.
Mayor Chatto said she and Lim showed documents to each other. The mayor said that Lim had documents like drawings and a land title. However, according to the mayor the title in Lim’s possession allegedly doesn’t have any technical description.
Mayor Chatto showed the local government unit’s (LGU) documents showing that the cadastral survey indicates that the area in question is a barangay road. She said the LGU has a land title with a technical description saying the land owned by the heirs of Pajuta is bound by a barangay road.
“We said that based on existing government documents that indeed there is a barangay road where our water pipes will be laid alongside this road, and the DPWH has issued order to resume work on our Balilihan Centralized Bulk Water Supply project, then the contractor will continue the pipe laying. If they have issues on the matter, then they raise it to the appropriate agencies and we will answer when needed,” Mayor Chatto told The Bohol Tribune.
As far as the LGU is concerned it will continue with its bulk water supply project which is funded by the national government, Chatto quipped.
The mayor said that Lim’s reaction to her statement was a simple, “okay”.
Furthermore, Lim has been insisting that his company has the right to put a barricade on the road considering it has ownership of a land property near Bugwak Spring.
According to reports, Lim has already asked his legal counsels for their next move after the barricade placed on the barangay road was removed by barangay officials on Nov. 25, 2021.
It can be remembered that barangay Sto. Niño officials removed the barricade placed by Richli Water on the road going to the spring. The barangay officials were assisted by members of the Balilihan police station. After the barricade was removed, police officers are now stationed in the area to ensure that the DPWH contractor’s work will not be impeded or delayed.
Additionally, the removal of the barricade is the solution to the delay encountered by the contractor tasked to work on the government project, the mayor explained to The Bohol Tribune.
The removal of the barricade was made possible via the authority of the barangay officials under the existing directive of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to clear road obstructions. The barangay officials used the DILG mandate to remove the barricade placed on the barangay road. Richli Water contends the barangay road is part of their land holdings following its purchase of the land property of the Pajutas.
Mayor Chatto said the LGU holds a document showing that the area where the barricade was placed by Richli Water is a barangay road which extends from the national highway all the way to the site of the hydroelectric plant near Bugwak Spring. In the cadastral survey in the document held by the LGU, the barangay road has a width of 10 meters.
Currently, the concreted portion of the road has a width of 5 meters. This means that the width of the road can be extended to 2.5 meters on each side. The water pipes of the waterworks system will pass through the side of the road, Mayor Chatto explained to The Bohol Tribune.
BACKGROUND
Yesterday’s incident is the latest of the series of events involving a barricade that was placed by Richli Water on the barangay road leading to Bugwak Spring.
Mayor Chatto in an interview over Newsmakers ug Uban Pa on Nov. 22. 2021 hosted by Ardy Araneta-Batoy and Gloria Leodivica Araneta, confirmed that she personally saw that a barricade was placed on the barangay road. She was in Panglao attending an event on Nov. 19, 2021 when she received reports regarding the placement of a barricade on the barangay road. She immediately went to the area to take a look whether or not the reports are true.
A public hearing ensued on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021 at barangay Sto. Niño attended by LGU officials, barangay officials, representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other local officials to discuss the issue on the barricade placed by Richli Water on the barangay road.
The top Richli Water official, Lim, in a radio interview insisted that persons going to Bugwak Spring to swim or for recreation and those working at Bohol 1 Electric Cooperative (Boheco 1) hydroelectric plant are allowed to use the road. The barricade is meant to prevent the workers who are in the area tasked to lay pipes for the bulk water project of the Balilihan Waterworks.
Lim, in the same interview, said that the company will allow the LGU waterworks’ pipes to traverse the side of the road which the company claims to be part of its land holding, if there is a memorandum of agreement (MOA). Lim said he wants his company and the LGU to forge a MOA, which will allow the pipes to pass along the company’s property only if water drawn by the LGU from Bugwak Spring will not be sold to another private water company and for the sole use of the town’s waterworks system.
Lim said that his company has purchased land property near Bugwak Spring giving them the right to put a barricade on the road, which Lim asserts is a private one.
As this developed, Mayor Chatto revealed that Richli Water has applied for a conditional water permit (CWP) before the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to draw water from Bugwak Spring. The LGU of Balilihan and the barangay of Sto. Niño filed an opposition as they want to know the exact plans of Richli Water on Bugwak Spring.
Lim, in the same radio interview, has insisted that the LGU of Balilihan has plans to sell the water drawn from Bugwak Spring to the Bohol Water Utilities Inc. (BWUI), based on media reports.
In a reply to Lim’s insinuation, Chatto said in another radio interview over Open Forum program on Nov. 26, 2021, that she and the officials of barangay Sto. Niño signed a deed of understanding that includes the stipulation saying water drawn from Bugwak Spring and will pass through the water pipes to be laid along the barangay road will not be sold to any other company and will be used by the consumers of the town’s own waterworks system.
Mayor Chatto admitted that water is a huge problem among Balilihan residents. For this reason, the LGU looked for ways to solve the water problem. The solution comes via the 25-year water master plan. The town cannot finance the plan alone, that is why it tapped the national government for help.
Following the completion of the master plan, Chatto said that the LGU has applied for a CWP back in August 2019. The NWRP granted the said permit in Jan. 2019. The LGU applied for the CWP as it identified Bugwak Spring as a water source for the expansion of the existing waterworks.
The LGU has 1 year to develop the water source area, the mayor bared.
In Oct. 2020, officials of Richli Water had an audience with the Waterworks Board of Balilihan. The meeting was presided over by Mayor Chatto. In that meeting, Richli Water officials were unable to provide a written proposal, the mayor revealed during the Open Forum interview.
As of the moment, with the DPWH has already gave the green light for the resumption of the pipe laying work, the LGU is bent on completing its project that will benefit the residents of the town.