•
1942 Born December 1 in Caloocan, Rizal, eldest of five
children of Alfonso P. Mananqul, Sr. of Pampanga and Gloria
M. Castillo of Pangasinan.
• As a child, discovered and was
fascinated by a watercolour painting by his father of the
Caloocan town hall and old issues of Liwayway with Amorsolo
covers and Carlos Francisco comics illustrations in a baul
at his aunt’s house. Immediately he bought some bond
papers and copied the painting and the comics in pencil.
From then on he was drawing before learning to write.
• 1949-55 Was school, class and
visual aid artist for teachers in the grade school
• 1958-59 Staff Artist for “The
Torres Torch”, official organ of Torres High School,
Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila. Took Graphic Arts as a vocational
subject and was acknowledged as the best in his class. Graduated
with honors.
• 1959 Entrance Scholar at the
U. P. School of Fine Arts
• Either University or College
Scholar for the whole 4 year course.
• 1962 While still a student, started
illustrating for Liwayway (oldest and biggest circulated
vernacular magazine in the country where early heroes Fernando
Amorsolo and Carlos V. Francisco and later, Cesar Legaspi,
Ang Kiu Kok & Bencab did art and illustrations for a
time)
• 1963 - Graduated as one of the
2 cum laudes (the other was Dan Dizon) with a Bachelor of
Fine Arts degree. Both were elected members of the Phi Kappa
Phi International Honor Society
• 1963 - Was offered a job as Graphic
Artist at Ace Advertising right after graduation
• Was hired as Staff Artist/Illustrator
for Liwayway Publications 3 months after
• Popularized the dry brush technique
in illustration for the magazine, influencing most of the
other artists who were older and better known.
• Rose as one of the company’s
top magazine illustrators. His paintings were used
from time to time as covers for special issues.
• Did comics illustrations for
Akda Publications of Helen Roces-Guerrero, daughter of Don
Ramon Roces of Liwayway, subsequently winning 2nd Prize
in Comics Illustration in a SPIC (Society of Phil. Illustrators
and Cartoonists) nationwide contest, beating other veterans
some of whom were his own idols.
• Did other illustrations on the
side for “The Modern Teacher” magazine, the
Weekly Graphics, the 10-volume “Filipino Heritage”
books by Alfredo Roces, “The Seven Ages of Romulo”,
a biographical book by National Artist Nick Joaquin and
“Copper One”, a book by award-winning Erwin
Castillo.
• 1983 His pencil portrait sketch
of Don Andres Soriano on the cover of a his company’s
annual report led to his being hired by the Bangko Sentral
ng Pilipinas to design the 1985 Flora and Fauna series of
bank notes and coins. He later asked fellow artists Angel
Cacnio and Rafael Asuncion to join him.
 •
He is credited in designing the 1st 2-peso decagonal coin,
co-designed the other minor coins, the now demonetized green
5-peso Aguinaldo bank note, the original, printed but never
circulated Marcos 500-peso bill (later replaced by the Ninoy
500, designed by Asuncion as he already left for Canada),
and the tri-hero blue 1000-peso bank note still in circulation.
• His Philippine Independence declaration
scene used originally for the 5-peso was reused for the
1998 100,000-peso centennial commemorative note, measuring
8 1/2 " x 14 ", accredited by the Guinness Book
of Records as the world ’s biggest legal tender note.
• 1967 Started as Instructor for
Illustration, Advertising Design, Cartooning and Watercolor
Painting at the U. E. School of Music & Arts.
• 1969 Married Aniceta Aquino of
Binmaley, Pangasinan, with whom he had five children: Roani,
Jordan, Anicee, Herson and Maila
• 1972-77 Designer/Visualizer,
J.Walter Thompson Advertising Co.
• 1977-1985 Rose from Instructor
to Asst. Professor, to Chairman, Dept. of Visual Communications,
U. P. College of Fine Arts teaching Illustration, Cartooning,
Advertising Arts, Drawing & Painting. Later he also
held art classes at the College of the Holy Spirit, Dept.
of Fine Arts.
• 1973 Seriously went back to Painting.
Sold his 1st oil for P70. Has since participated in more
than a hundred group exhibitions in the Phils., Australia,
U.S. and Canada
• 1974 “Oleo”, 1st
2-man show with Raul Dayao at Quad Gallery, Makati
• 1976 “R.C. Mananquil”,
1st one-man show at Rear Room Gallery, Ermita
• 1977 Commissioned as one of the
artists for the “Ferdinand Marcos, Biography in Painting”
traveling exhibition sponsored by Gallery Blue.
 •
1978 Commissioned to paint a huge mural, “Southeast
Asian Agriculture”, for the SEARCA Blg., U. P. Los
Banos, with Angel Cacnio.
• 1881 “Lahing Pilipino”,
2-man show with Angel Cacnio, Galerie Bleue, Makati
• 1984 “A Boy Named Jesus”,
group show organized by the Kawilihan Gallery. Named Artist-in-Residence
for Painting, U.P. College of Fine Arts.
• 1985 Left for Canada with his
family joining him 6 months after. Started new life in Canada
doing portraits. Got published right away in 2 Filipino
papers mainly as the designer of Philippine bank notes &
coins.
• 1986-87 Was hired as a part time
Art Instructor for Watercolour & Oil Painting, Hilltop
Community School for Continuing Education, Etobicoke, Ontario.
Conducted Art Workshops in Oil Painting, Etobicoke School
of the Arts.
• 1987 Invited to participate in
an all Filipino art exhibition as a special feature of the
Philippine Independence Gala Night celebration. Sold 2 paintings
to an appreciative couple. Joined the existing group at
that time, Pilipino Artists in North America (PANA).
• 1988 Reorganized the group and
renamed it the Philippine Artists Group of Canada (PAG)
with all the Filipino artists from the exhibition. Became
its first president and held the position for the next 14
years. The group’s main objective is to showcase and
propagate Philippine visual arts in this part of the world
through art exhibitions the biggest of which became a regular
feature of the annual celebration of the declaration of
Philippine independence. Later on, the Philippine Consulate
General in Toronto became its annual presenting sponsor.
• 1989 Was hired as Graphic Artists
for the yellow pages company, Tele-direct Publications later
called Bell Actimedia and eventually, The Yellow Pages Group
• The PAG under his leadership
gradually made the Filipino community as well as mainstream
Canada become aware on the merits of Philippine visual arts.
Later, buyers and collectors begun to appear and he became
one of the most collected Filipino artist in Canada today.
The advent of the internet widened his horizon with buyers
and inquiries from the U. S., the U.K. and Australia.
• 2003 Quit as PAG president to
make way for stewardships from other members. Was officially
given the title: President Emeritus by the group for his
14 years of continuous dedicated service as PAG founder
and leader.
• His portraits were just as known
as his paintings. In 1996, As a member of the Knights of
Rizal in Canada, he did a controversial portrait of Dr.
Jose Rizal, perhaps the only known visual presentation of
the hero in barong tagalog. The painting, which now hangs
at the front office of the Philippine Consulate General
in Toronto, was jointly donated by the Knighthood and the
PAG on the centenary of the hero’s martyrdom.
• 2003 Was accepted member of the
prestigious Portrait Society of America alongside with other
Filipino portraitists like the recent top prize winner Romulo
Galicano, Vancouver’s Edgar Lantin, and Chicago’s
Jun Buenosilva.
 •
2004 Lead a team of PAG artists with guests artists from
the U. S., France and the Philippines in organizing “Convergence
Internationale”, the 1st PAG art exhibition in the
Philippines, at Artspace, Glorietta, Makati City. According
to reports, it is one of the best, if not the best, attended
art openings in Manila in recent memories.
• 2006 Upon his retirement from
a regular job two years ago, he decided to go back to teaching
art by conducting workshops on Oil Painting & Portraiture.
His first class composed mostly of advanced students starts
in March after his first 3-man show with former classmates
Bencab and Dan Dizon
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