I use CGI::Application and it works as you expected. I have this method here: 
sub index {
    my $self = shift;
    my $template = $self->load_tmpl('index.html');
    return $template->output;
}

[download]
I checked it's contents with Data::Dumper, and I got this: 
$VAR1 = '<html>
<head>
<title>Administra\uffff\uffffo VIARS</title>
</head>

<body>
<center>
<h1>Consulta de contratos</h1>
<form action="viars.cgi" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="page" value="listar_contratos_action"/>
<fieldset style="width: 300px;">
<legend>Filtros</legend>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Contrato<br/>
<input type="text" name="filtro_contrato" />
<p/>
Usu&aacute;rio<br/>
<input type="text" name="filtro_usuario" />
<p/>
<input type="submit" value="Consultar"/>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
</center>
</body>
</html>
';

[download]
Maybe your template is not being rendered. izut

In reply to Re: Append object output to scalar by izut
in thread Append object output to scalar by mhearse

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.