JON E. ROYECA has two history degrees: a bachelor’s from CAP College Foundation (an alternative learning school) and a master’s from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He writes in Filipino and English, and has already published since 2000 more than 200 short stories, essays, and poems in Liwayway, Junior Inquirer, Philippine Panorama, and The Modern Teacher magazines. A native of Catarman, Northern Samar, Royeca collects books, coins, paper bills, stamps, and gold jewelry.