Former Cagayan de Oro mayor Reuben Canoy dies

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Former Cagayan de Oro mayor Reuben Canoy, the voice behind Mindanao’s longest-running radio political commentary program Perspective, died on Tuesday night, July 5. He was 93.

“It is with sadness that we are informing you of Dad’s passing at 8:55 pm tonight, July 5, 2022. Please pray for the eternal repose of his soul,” Canoy’s daughter Rhona announced on her Facebook page.

The elder Canoy had been confined in a hospital since his 93rd birthday on June 6.

He is survived by his children Rhona, Chet, Cacoi, and Donne. His wife Solona died in 2019.

Canoy last served in the government as a member of the Duterte administration’s Consultative Committee (Concom) which drafted proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution. It was part of moves to shift to a federal form of government which did not materialize during Duterte’s presidency.

Outspoken Marcos critic

Canoy, a lawyer, was one of the most colorful political leaders in Cagayan de Oro and Mindanao during the years of dictatorship.

Along with the late senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., also a former Cagayan de Oro mayor, and former Misamis Oriental governor Homobono Adaza, Canoy was among the most outspoken critics of the Marcos Martial Law regime.

But years before he turned against then-president Ferdinand E. Marcos, Canoy served as an undersecretary in the strongman’s now-defunct Department of Public Information (DPI) under then-minister Francisco “Kit” Tatad.

Canoy was thrust into the national limelight when he emerged as the lone opposition candidate to win in the interim Batasan Pambansa elections called by Marcos on April 7, 1978.

Canoy landed in the last spot in the elections called by the opposition as a “consuelo de bobo” (mock consolation) of the Marcos regime.

Canoy’s political career started earlier when he was elected the fifth mayor of Cagayan de Oro, then an upcoming urban city, from 1971 to 1976.

His political mettle was tested when the police arrested 30 students during a protest rally in downtown Divisoria. Instead of sending them to the city jail, Canoy brought the students to his office, bought them dinner of pancit and bread, and talked to them about democracy and leadership. After that, he sent them home.

Canoy’s ‘Perspective’

A Silliman University graduate, Canoy was widely known for his long-running radio commentary program Perspective over Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), a broadcast company founded by his brother Henry, which traces its roots to Cagayan de Oro.

Canoy had developed quite a following in the Southern Philippines, and many grew up listening to his radio program.

His familiar opening spiel for each episode has reverberated across generations: “Ang lungsod nga nasayod makahatag og kusog sa demokrasya, apan ang lungsod nga mapasagaron makapukan sa atong kagawasan.”

(An informed society strengthens democracy, but an indifferent society will crush our freedoms.)

When his health further deteriorated and he could no longer talk at length, Canoy wrote his commentary and had his daughter Rhona read it to his audience.

Canoy had authored books, including The Counterfeit Revolution: How Ferdinand Marcos Became a Dictator of the Philippines, and The Quest for Mindanao Independence.

Federalism and Mindanao independence

He was a staunch federalism advocate, and earlier in his political life, he went to the extent of calling for Mindanao’s independence from the Philippines.

During the presidency of Corazon Aquino, Canoy was accused of involvement with military rebels in Mindanao led by then renegade Army colonel Alexander Noble who seized the military outposts in Cagayan de Oro and Butuan City in the 1990s.

The government alleged that Canoy was supposed to proclaim the “Federal Republic of Mindanao,” comprising Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, which meant breaking away from the Philippines.

Following the October 1990 Noble pocket rebellion and the rebel forces’ occupation of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division camp in Cagayan de Oro, authorities arrested Canoy, and fellow lawyer and friend Constantino Jaraula. 

They were held inside a small container van at the back of the Misamis Oriental provincial capitol.

Prosecutors presented minted money and passports of the Federal Republic of Mindanao as evidence, but Canoy and Jaraula were later released.

Canoy had refused to keep quiet and went on giving lectures on federalism throughout Mindanao.

“Up to his last moments, his mind was still very sharp. I was surprised and amazed with his writings,” said Jaraula who became a Cagayan de Oro congressman and subsequently, the city’s mayor years later.

Aside from being a politician and public intellectual, Canoy was a playwright and filmmaker, and he had written opinion columns mostly for local newspapers.

Canoy was one of the pillars of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC), the oldest news media organization in Mindanao, and served as its president from 1962 to 1963. – Rappler.com