“Ang lungsod nga nasayod mao’y naghatag kusog sa demokrasya. Apan ang lungsod nga mapasagaron mao’y makapukan sa atong kagawasan,” - Atty. Reuben Canoy
I was a young boy in the province when I first heard Atty. Reuben Canoy’s voice on air. It was not an ordinary voice. His was a voice of reason. Every morning, through his program “Perspective”, heard over dyHP RMN Cebu for decades and until his death, people received a gem of information. He will be missed.
Canoy was a true blue broadcaster who never stopped educating his millions of listeners. He did it even up the twilight of his life. It was a kind of passion that kept on burning up to the end. He made such difficult topics such as law, the Bible, and history understandable to the common man.
I can say that in the area of educating the general public, he was a genius. Albert Einstein was correct: “The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.” Canoy’s explanations were simple but not simplistic. His analyses were incisive, but he never diluted the quality of any information.
He gave life to his creed and lived with it. The first sentence of that creed is “Ang lungsod nga nasayod mao’y naghatag kusog sa demokrasya.” He believed that the people should not just have choices, but must have informed choices and decisions. For him, it’s where the real strength of democracy lies. His chief concern is that people should be getting the correct information all the time.
The second sentence is: “Apan ang lungsod nga mapasagaron mao’y makapukan sa atong kagawasan.” Canoy believed that what causes people to lose their freedom is their own recklessness. Somebody said something similar to this long time ago: “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.”
It is an honor on my part that despite his brilliance, there were instances that Atty. Canoy quoted my columns in this paper in his program that can be heard nationwide through RMN stations. He read my columns in toto on-air and translated them to the language understandable to people from all walks of life.
His daily program was scheduled right after my daily program “Straight to the Point”. As station manager of dyHP RMN Cebu, I decided to have his last two recorded episodes played on-air even if he already passed away. That he continued his program despite his age was a testament to his love for the broadcast industry.
His booming yet soothing voice of sharp analyses on the burning issues of the day is now gone. At the age of 93, he returned to his creator with an accomplished mission.
Certainly, however, he will forever remain alive in the hearts of countless souls whose minds he has opened. He inculcated the virtue of love of country in the hearts of many Filipinos.
Generation after generation, many will continue to talk about the greatness of the man, a real champion of unadulterated information.
Rest in peace, Atty. Reuben Canoy.