CALAMBA CITY – At least 25 families have left their homes in Nasugbu town in Batangas because of alleged harassment from members of the 730th Combat Group of the Air Force, a militant human rights group said on Monday.

Dina Capetillo, chair of Karapatan in Batangas, said the military in Hacienda Looc and Barangay Natipuan in Nasugbu threatened those who joined the protest march of the Calabarzon farmers on Jan. 16-22.

The victims are now encamped in front of the Nasugbu municipal hall.

In a phone interview, Maj. Arnel Villareal, group commander of the PAF’s 730th combat group, denied the allegation. “We do not tolerate those kinds of human rights violations,” he said.

“Upon declaration of Presidential Executive Order 647, which made 21 barangays of Nasugbu part of a national eco-tourism project, the military has been conducting intensive operations in the areas where a big number of farmers are opposing the project,” Capetillo said.

Since Feb. 1, military checkpoints have been set up in Calayo village, which is included in the Nasugbu-Ternate Eco-tourist Road Project. Villagers are being “stopped, interrogated and harassed,” according to Capetillo.

Citing information from Karapatan volunteers, Capetillo said that on February 1, at one checkpoint, Coche Polagan, principal of the Barangay Looc Elementary School, and her husband were forced to get off their van and made to kneel on the road.

Romy Cayao, chair of the Samahan ng Magbubukid ng Batangas, claimed that soldiers burned down on Jan. 31 the houses of three farmers from Hacienda Looc.

Villareal admitted that checkpoints had been set up and that villagers were blocked on Feb. 1.

“That was because, there was a crossfire and we didn’t want civilians hurt,” he explained.