No, “The Magician” is not dead.

Efren “Bata” Reyes, who is considered the greatest pool player of all time, said he is very much alive after news of his death spread on social media.

“Okay lang ako! (I’m fine),” Reyes said with a smile in a video posted by his daughter Chelo on Facebook as he watched an NBA game.

Chelo asked people to stop spreading “fake news” about his father, who is now 66 years old.

“Sa mga nagshe-share at nakakabasa ng mga lumalabas na balitang patay na si tatay, huwag po kayo maniwala, fake news lang po ‘yan. Diyos na bahala sa inyong nagpapakalat ng ganiyang balita,” Chelo said.

(To everyone who is sharing and reading the news that my father is dead, please do not believe it, that is just fake news. God will take care of those spreading those kind of news.)

In another video, Reyes was seen playing pool.

“Ito po ako, buhay na buhay! (I’m here, very much alive),” Reyes said.

Reyes, a world champion in both eight-ball and nine-ball, saw action at home soil in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, taking home a bronze medal in the one-cushion carom.

He recently received a gift – a portrait of himself – from one of his fans.

– Rappler.com