Reyster Langit succumbs to cerebral malaria

Reyster Langit, son of broadcaster Rey Langit, passed away at the St. Vincent Memorial Hospital in the US from cerebral malaria. The younger Langit, 33, caught the disease while making a documentary in Palawan, which is known to be infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Reyster didn‘t feel the symptoms of the disease until he left Palawan for Los Angeles, and was even reported to be responding well to medication and a blood transfusion done at St. Vincent.

Reyster went to Palawan with his team to investigate malaria, which afflicts many people in the said area and which has resulted in a high incidence of mortality.

Reyster’s father, Rey Langit, said in a DZRH phone patch from Los Angeles that Filipinos based in LA wanted to help Reyster in his crusade to get to the bottom of the deadly disease.

"Reyster told me that would have been the greatest achievement in his life. And Filipinos based in LA were willing to support him," the elder Langit added.

Reyster, his father said, was even able to bring his five-year-old son to Disneyland as a way of compensating for the time he (Reyster) spent away from the boy because of work.

Father and son have won many broadcasting awards for their weekly afternoon show Biyaheng Langit over RPN 9. Reyster produced and directed the said documentary show.

The Langit family is expected to return to Manila from Los Angeles tomorrow morning. They will bring with them Reyster’s remains. Interment will be at the Manila Memorial Chapel in Sucat, Parañaque.