Dempsey Reyes, Inquirer reporter; 29
Inquirer reporter Dempsey Cyden Reyes passed away on April 26 at the Commonwealth Hospital and Medical Center in Quezon City, where he was rushed the day before.
Reyes died at 4:25 a.m. of respiratory failure following a brain hemorrhage, according to his death certificate provided by the hospital. He would have turned 30 on Oct. 21.
An alumnus of the Far Eastern University, Reyes was a reporter of the Manila Times before he joined the Inquirer in 2021, covering the environment and city beats, and later the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan, and the Office of the Vice President, his last assignment.
“Our deepest condolences to Dempsey’s loved ones,” Inquirer executive editor Volt Contreras said. “The Inquirer newsroom shares in their sorrow and will miss the commitment Dempsey had shown as a young reporter who knew his mission yet never lost lightness of heart while on the chase.”
‘Eye for detail, irony’
“As one of the most reliable members of the staff, he had the drive to explore and deliver beyond the basics, an eye for detail and irony showing in his reports—and our banter between deadlines often crackled with asides and inside jokes picked up from his daily coverage,” Contreras said.
“Our thoughts are with his family in this most difficult time,” the editor added.
Reyes’ supervisor, News Desk chief DJ Yap, recalled that “Dempsey was a brave and committed reporter, the kind who could quiet a beat chatroom by asking the question others were too timid to ask.”
“He kept sources on their toes. He was summoned twice by the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) about his reporting, and recently had a run-in with riot police while covering a rally. Dempsey had the makings of a brilliant political journalist—bright, curious and with instincts that cut through the noise,” Yap said.
He added: “The Inquirer newsroom is shaken by [Reyes’] loss, and I am heartbroken. Beyond his work, he was warm and disarmingly funny. He lit up any room with his personal brand of ‘kanal’ humor.”
Film role as journalist
Reyes’ colleagues in the Inquirer and the media community as a whole also have fond remembrances of his street humor and intrepidness as a journalist.
Assignments editor Tetch Torres-Tupas said “He used to call me ‘miss’ every time he messaged me for story corrections. But when we met face-to-face in a press conference, he called me ‘Ate Tetch,’ which I always prefer. Despite just meeting, we talked throughout our coverage as if we were old friends. Since then, he often called me—not just for work, but to share a laugh when a text isn’t enough.”
Torres-Tupas remembers “his excited call about a movie cameo where he played, fittingly, a journalist.”
This was the 2025 movie “Bar Boys: After School,” where Reyes played a reporter covering the Bar exams.
“Passionate and resourceful, Dempsey will be remembered for his professional drive and genuine warmth. He will be missed,” Torres-Tupas said.
Colorful notebook
Reporter Kathleen de Villa said “Dempsey and I got into the reporter’s pool almost the same time during the pandemic. I was just new in the field, and he had almost a decade’s worth of experience having been a Manila Times reporter.”
“I remember he would always find time to call to just chatter about our beats and coverages, and I would always either gasp or chuckle at his stories. He would, of course, share a trick or two on how to approach a government official and other resource persons. He’s the type of reporter who would have the funniest and most colorful reporter’s notebook. It’s just unfortunate we won’t be able to ever read it,” De Villa said.
For Krixia Subingsubing, senior associate for communications at Stratbase and former Inquirer senior reporter, the media industry “just lost a bright light” with Reyes’ passing.
She remembered “Dempsey as [being] one of the pillars of the defense beat” even before he joined the Inquirer. “He was good at building rapport with sources with his charm and wit, and even better at sniffing out intrigue and chicanery. He always had some juicy backstory to tell about any of the beats that he’s worked in—some of which he turned into agenda-setting stories, earning him the respect of his peers, including us.”
“Dempsey doesn’t back out from anything. Not even an NBI investigation, or botched ambush interviews, not even a small role in a box office movie where he played some version of himself as a hard-hitting reporter,” Subingsubing said. “He’s the type to assert himself before public officials in their own group chat with reporters to pressure them to be transparent, or to shout out his question while the official is trying to slink away so they would be forced to answer anyway. He taught us that reporters need to be a little more shameless, a little less timid, if they want to exact accountability from public officials.”
GMA News Online reporter Llanesca Panti, who covered the Sandiganbayan together with Reyes, said they had been friends “since he was an intern in 2016 until we became colleagues in the profession.”
“Our job as journalists is brutal and thankless, but Dempsey is the opposite of our job. He is always generous with sources, may it be documents, transcripts or a resource person. He would always check on us if we already know certain information so we could all do our jobs well,” Panti said.
“But most of all, I am most thankful to him for making us laugh so hard with his imitation of people we meet on coverage. He did not have to do all those things, but he did them anyway. And for that, I will forever miss him,” she said.
Paolo R. Prieto, Inquirer president and CEO, said “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dempsey.”
“Our prayers go to the bereaved and to all his loved ones during this difficult time,” Prieto said.
Reyes’ wake will be held until April 30 at Room 101 of St. Peter Chapel, Tandang Sora, Commonwealth, Quezon City. Viewing will start on April 27, 7 p.m. His remains will be cremated on May 1, 10 a.m.
Donations and other forms of assistance may be coursed through his mother Cynthia at 0998-584-8321.
