Japanese national missing in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY –– A Japanese executive was reported missing after he failed to report for work or return home to his dormitory in Laguna for a week, the police said.

On Friday, colleagues of Shinji Okumura, 52, filed a formal report to the police here, the basis for authorities to tag the marketing executive a missing person.

The management of the refrigeration logistics company in this city, where Okumura has been with since 2016, has also coordinated with the Japanese Embassy.

City police chief Lt. Reycon Garduque, in a phone interview Friday, said Okumura was last seen at work on August 23.

Although his colleagues had reached out to the authorities early this week, they only submitted a formal report to the police Friday.

Police have visited Okumura’s dormitory in Biñan City and learned that he had not gone home there too since last week.

“They must have thought at first that he was just absent from work,” Garduque said.

Police traced security camera footages of Okumura’s car driving northbound on the expressway on August 23, but Garduque said they have yet to locate the vehicle.

Before living in Laguna, Okumura headed the Nipon Skilled Volunteers Association, a Japanese skills training foundation based in Dagupan City, Pangasinan from 2011 to 2016.

Police said there was no report of any ransom demand./lzb