The author, a retired diplomat, writes about people, places, events, and cultural topics encountered in his 35 years as a career diplomat of the Republic of the Philippines and in his retirement thereafter. He was assigned to the Philippine Mission to the UN in New York as well as to Myanmar, Mexico, and Chile. His last two postings were as Philippine Ambassador to Italy, Albania, and San Marino, and to South Africa, with jurisdiction over Angola, Mozambique, Botswana, and Namibia. Among people he has met are Nobel Laureates Bishop Desmond Tutu and Aung San Suu Kyi, Jane Goodall, Nadine Gordimer, F.W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela. He has written extensively on Philippine heritage and culture and on leading Philippine authors such as Carmen Guerrero Nakpil and Nick Joaquin, and has been published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Free Press, Business Day, and the Fookien Times Yearbook. He has published three books, including Gloria, which won the National Book Award in 2004.