Cesar Ruiz Aquino was born during the extremely uncertain time that was World War II in which he lost his father, a captain and peacetime judge of Iligan, Lanao. He grew up in Zamboanga and has a PhD in Literature from Silliman University. He writes both poetry and prose for which he has won virtually all the national awards in the Philippines and one international – the Southeast Asian Writers Award from the royal family of Thailand in 2004. Taking off from Santayana, he has written of himself thus: 'He has no wife, and Michelle is their adoptive daughter.' [Poetry]