4 of 9 owners of sunken ship already out of the country

FOUR of the nine owners of an oil tanker that sank into the Guimaras Strait have left the country long before the Bureau of Immigration placed them on its watchlist, an Immigration official said Thursday.

Japanese nationals Tomoki Tsubomoto, Hiromi Irishika and Mototsugu Yamaguchi departed the Philippines in May 2001, while Gregorio Flores left only last May, said Gary Mendoza, chief of the Immigration Regulations Divisions.