THE late Assemblyman Reuben Canoy, one of Mindanao’s most colorful political leaders, was laid to rest with only the family and close friends in attendance in Eternal Gardens Greenhills in Barangay Bulua, this city on Friday.
Canoy was buried together with the remains of his wife, Solona, who died earlier in 2019.
The two urns of Canoy and Solona were lowered to the vault together by four of their children—Rhona, Chet, Cacoi, and Donne.
His daughter Rhona, said the urn containing the ashes of her mother was all along at the bedside of his father since she died in 2019.
“Since both of them were cremated, we decided to bury them together in the vault,” his daughter Rhona said “I guess Dad really wanted to be with my mom all this time.”
Rhona said the urn of her mother, Solona, was not buried immediately after her death in 2019 because the design of the vault was not finished at that time.
She said her father then told them to bring her mother’s urn and placed it on the headboard of his bed in their room.
There it stayed there until Friday morning when it was taken out and placed beside her husband’s urn to be buried together.
The late assemblyman was cremated hours after he died of cardiac arrest at a local hospital last July 5.
Canoy was the voice behind Mindanao’s longest radio political commentary program “Perspective” over Radio Mindanao Network, a broadcast company founded by his brother Henry, which traces its roots in Cagayan de Oro.
His familiar opening spiel for each episode became a familiar morning program in Mindanao and the Visayas through the years.
“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.)
Canoy wrote the script for every episode until his health failed him. He let her daughter Rhona, read the script for him.
Aside from being a prominent Mindanao political leader, Canoy was also remembered as “the father of modern Cagayan de Oro.”
During his term as City Mayor of Cagayan de Oro from 1971 to 1976 when he implemented the division of city barangays into 80 villages divided into 40 “urban” barangays and 40 “rural” barangays.
He also was instrumental in the construction of the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center in downtown Cagayan de Oro.
Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez also credited Canoy for the organization of the Cagayan de Oro Water District.
However, it was in politics that Canoy became a prominent figure.
He became an outspoken critic of the late President Ferdinand Marcos after he resigned from his post as assistant secretary of the Department of Public Information.
Later Canoy, the late Senator Aquilino Pimentel and former Misamis Oriental Gov. Homobono Adaza formed the Mindanao Alliance.
