Jay Reguero was an American-Philippiano on his father's side, His mother was white. He was not taught anything about his father's heritage. He showed no interest in what was going on in the Philippines that is until his cousin Jun gets murdered by the police. It was only then that he found out about President Duterte's madness. Duterte was committing wholesale murder on anyone suspected of being involved with drugs. People who spoke out against this were conveniently accused of being involved with drugs and imprisoned. Jun's parents wouldn't even give him a funeral or even speak his name due to the shame of his death. Jay decided that he needed to go to the Philippians after being contacted by a friend of Jun's saying he was not guilty. I found the authors writing to be excellent and can't wait to finish the book.