Hotel owner 'may have left country'

Philippine Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo yesterday said Manor Hotel owner William Tan Genato may have left the country. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has just issued a hold-departure order (HDO) against him. "Considering that it's easy to get a Filipino passport using a fictitious name, chances are that Genato is no longer here in the country," Domingo said.

She added that the BI does not even have a photograph of Genato, who has been barred from the leaving the country over the Manor blaze on Saturday that killed at least 74 people and injured many others. Domingo said she issued the HDO even without a formal notice from the Department of Justice (DoJ) after learning that formal charges have been filed against Manor officers before the Quezon City Prosecutor's Office.

She said this move was her way of "taking extra-ordinary measures to avoid a repeat of the case of Kim Wong," referring to the alleged drug lord who was able to slip out of the country. Genato did not turn himself in to authorities yesterday, reneging on the alleged surrender feelers that he had sent to the Central Police District (CPD) earlier. Facing criminal charges resulting from reckless negligence and grave imprudence, Genato allegedly violated the building and fire code by failing to install proper and adequate fire safety measures in his six-storey Manor Hotel.