PHUKET: Phuket Immigration officials have searched the data base of arrivals on Phuket and found no trace of a man wanted in the Philippines over a murder, Phuket Immigration Superintendent Colonel Panuwat Ruamrak said today.

He was speaking after Phuketwan forwarded to him Philippines newspaper articles speculating that Joel Reyes, a former Governor of a Philippines province now wanted in a murder investigation, could have fled as a fugitive to Phuket.

Colonel Panuwat said that there was nothing to indicate that Mr Reyes had arrived on Phuket or entered Thailand through another arrival point.

Nor was there any entry under the alias that the newspaper reports speculated that he may have used, Joseph Lim Pe.

Colonel Panuwat said that he had received no request from the Philippines Embassy to pursue Mr Reyes or his brother, Mario Tolentino Reyes Jr, who is also wanted, according to the Philippines outlets.

Reports that Phuket Immigration officers were ''scouring the island'' appear to be as speculative as the initial articles by the Philippines tabloids.

Philippines Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr was quoted as saying earlier this week that at least one of the brothers was said to be on Phuket.

The brothers are wanted over the killing in January 2011 of Gerardo Valeriano Ortega, a Filipino journalist, environmental activist and community organiser known for his advocacy against mining on the island of Palawan.

The Philippines Bureau of Immigration has been criticised by President Aquino for its lack of success in several so-called ''headline'' cases.