The writing of Deeper Ground, Darker Shadows: The Making of a Mindanao Rebel began when Francisco “Pancho” Lara Jr., executive director of the non-government research and policy institute Climate Conflict Action, asked me to comment on Ed Quitoriano’s first draft chapters.
I could not say no to an old friend. After a common friend heard about this, he told me to ask Ed about his nose. When we finally chatted with each other via social media, I asked him about his nose to break the ice. Ed casually replied that Cuban plastic surgeons reconfigured it so that he would look more Latino than Asian. That way, Latin American revolutionaries would warm up to him more since he would look like them! But the doctors botched the first operation, so they had to do the plastic surgery all over again!
Of course, I asked him, “What in heaven’s name were you doing in Cuba?” Again, matter-of-factly, he said during that time he was going around Latin America on behalf of the New People’s Army’s General Command, seeking military assistance from Leftwing movements and Cuba for the NPA.
He then added that, before Cuba, he also visited Nicaragua, Lebanon, Libya, Yugoslavia, and North Korea, with multiple transits points ranging from Athens, Algeria, Belgrade, Moscow, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand! This got my attention and, for the next 10 years, Ed and I worked on the manuscript.
