Reuben Canoy

Political life and advocacy Canoy first joined the government as an undersecretary in the Department of Public Information (DPI) in 1966 under Secretary Francisco Tatad.

Though initially supportive of President Ferdinand Marcos, he defected to the opposition in 1976 and proceeded to resign from his various government positions such as city mayor. By 1978, he formed with Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Homobono Adaza the Mindanao Alliance, which opposed Marcos' martial law regime and was sympathetic to the cause of the Moro National Liberation Front. Canoy was elected in 1978 as the representative of Region X (Northern Mindanao) in the Interim Batasang Pambansa as the only winning opposition candidate to represent the region. In 1979, he wrote Real Autonomy: The Answer to the Mindanao Problem where he advocated autonomy as a solution to the Moro conflict in Mindanao.

He formed the Social Democratic Party of the Philippines in 1981 which caused his expulsion from the Mindanao Alliance. Canoy ran for president of the Philippines in the snap election of 1986 and took about 34,000 votes. He formed the Mindanao People's Democratic Movement and tried to declare the separation of Mindanao from the Philippines as the Federal Republic of Mindanao in April 1986 but was advised not to pursue the said declaration. Canoy was imprisoned for his role as a leading civilian supporter of Colonel Alexander Noble's revolt in October 1990 as a leader of the Mindanao Independence Movement but was later released. but lost. Canoy supported the candidacy of Fernando Poe Jr. as president in the 2004 elections.

Later life and death Under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, Canoy became a member of the Consultative Committee with the purpose of amending the current constitution of the Philippines enacted in 1987. Canoy was invited to run for vice mayor of Cagayan de Oro under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas in the 2019 general election but declined due to "his old age and health issues". Until his last days, his commentaries were broadcast with the Radio Mindanao Network program Perspective in Visayas and Mindanao. at the age of 93 on July 5, 2022.

Family Canoy married Solona Torralba in 1953 and had four children.

His brothers were Henry Canoy, one of the founders of Radio Mindanao Network, and Nestor Canoy, a doctor who settled in Columbia, Missouri in the United States and died on July 27, 2017. Wardrobe Item (1950) The Quest for Mindanao independence (Cagayan de Oro City: Mindanao Post Publishing Company, 1987) Island of Fear (Metro Manila: Solar Publishing Corporation, 1987) The History of Mindanao (2001) Terror in Paradise (2005)