Described as "quiet, timid and shy" in his school report card.

Wins his first art award as a Sixth Grade student at the Balagtas Elementary School in Bambang, for his drawing entry in a poster contest with a human rights theme. Receives P100 as part of the First Prize.

Joins the staff of the school paper The Tambuli.

Has a short stint at the Cock-n-Bull Tavern as instant portraitist.

Takes his first full-time job with the United States Information Service as lay-out artist, where he contracts myopia from keeping his eyes glued to the drawing board. Leaves the job after two years with a pair of glasses as a memento.

Together with three other painters, Bal Magallona Jr., Edgar Soller, and his brother Salvador, sets up Sining, a studio/workshop/gallery on Mabini. They soon get kicked out for being three months behind in the rent.

Joins Virgilio Aviado and Marciano Galang in a three-man show at the Art Association of the Philippines' (AAP) Gallery, an alliance that will be repeated in two other exhibitions in the next twenty years.

The gallery is next door to Indios Bravos, a popular watering hole of artists and writers where he forges friendships with the likes of Nick Joaquin, Leo Benesa, Virginia Moreno, Larry Francia and Betsy Romualdez, and meets the visiting English writer Caroline Kennedy, who will later become his wife.

Participates in the Tokyo Biennale in Japan.

Settles in London to raise a family. Sells oriental antiques at the Chelsea flea market to supplement his income.

Chosen one of Thirteen Artists, a recognition given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines to "the country's most active, most aggressively ambitious talents…who have gained considerable maturity and recognition…a new generation (of artists) that promises to dominate Philippine art of the seventies." It is the first batch of thirteen awardees in what will eventually become a periodic tribute.

A turning point in his work is his discovery of rare Filipiniana prints and photographs in London's antiquarian bookshops which inspire him to start Larawan, a series of sepia-toned acrylic. paintings based on colonial iconography which portray a visual conceptualization of the past in relation to present issues.

Takes special studies in sculpture and life class at the Camden Arts Centre.

Visits Manila briefly with a show Filipinas Ni Bencab at the University of the Philippines'Faculty Center.

Exhibits drawings, prints and sculpture in Bencab's Five Years Of Life Class at Sining Kamalig in Manila.

Joins Summer Show, a group exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in London.

Exhibits a new series of colorful drawings Punks at the Tricycle Theater Gallery in London, which he co-curates.

Shows his Punk drawings at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Collaborates with a Chinese dancer in London to create Improvisation Series, brush drawings of of her dance routine sequence, exhibited and performed at the October Gallery.

Exhibits Recent Works at the October Gallery in London. Part of the show is Two Filipinas In The Era Of Multinationals, a caricature of two women in turn-of-the-century costume - one wearing a Walkman, the other carrying a television set and holding a Big Mac. It is a startling contrast of pride in age-old culture and the trappings of American consumerism - a commentary on conservative attitudes that have not changed despite the age of technology.

Discovers and works on handmade paper.

Joins Virgilio Aviado and Michael J. Parsons in Paperworks at the Finale Art File in Manila.

Receives the Kalinangan (Cultural) Award For Painting from the Mayor of the City of Manila on the occasion of its founding day.

Participates in the 1st Baguio Arts Festival with a 4 x 12 foot painting, People Waiting.

Executes the stage design for choreographer Enrico Labayen's Sabel, a dance interpretation of his favorite subject, portrayed by Agnes Locsin in her final performance as a dancer. Paints a large diptych Studies of Sabel, each 9 x 5 feet, which is used as backdrop during the performance at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Participates in Il Sud Del Mondo: l'Altra Arte Contemporanea, The Third World & Beyond: An International Confrontation of Contemporary Artists at the Museum of Italy in Marsala, Italy, and New Age, New Trends, New Prints, a graphics exhibition at the Alliance Francaise in Manila.

Participates in the 7th Asian International Art Exhibition at the Merdeka Building in Bandung, Indonesia, and the succeeding annual shows with the same group, in Fukuoka, Taiwan, Singapore, Manila, Macau and Kuala Lumpur.

Exhibits 101 Drawings at The Luz Gallery, including a 20-foot long drawing, Pinoy Nuances.

Participates in Art Line & Strokes: A Painting & Print Exhibition Of Contemporary Filipino Visual Artists held at the Hong Kong Visual Art Centre and the China Club in Hong Kong.

Creates a stir when he exhibits Portrait, a large portrait of Flor Contemplation (a Filipina who was hanged in a Singapore prison) at the 10th Asian International Art Exhibition, National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore. The painting is later donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Manila & is now part of their permanent collection.

Envisages & helps set-up Tam-awan Village in Baguio for the preservation of Cordillera culture & traditions. It is a cultural preserve & living museum showcasing authentic traditional Ifugao huts in a replication of their original setting in the Cordilleras. The Tam-awan Village group also adopts an abandoned rice terrace in Ifugao, restores and rehabilitates it so that it now produces rice, and encourages the revival of traditional planting and harvest rituals.

Experiments with a copying machine and, with the support of the Fuji Xerox Corporation, exhibits xerox art in Images Of The Cordillera at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

Travels to at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts to exhibit The Filipina ca. 1898 at the Featherstone Meetinghouse For The Arts.

Creates his largest work yet: Images of the Past, a 9.5 x 7.5 foot painting commissioned for the lobby of the Rizal Tower of Rockwell Land Corporation's high-rise complex.

A 1983 oil painting, Waiting For The Monsoon, is included for the first time at the Christie's Singapore auction of Southeast Asian Paintings.

With Virgilio Aviado, co-edits the visuals for a book Eros Pinoy, an anthology of erotic Filipino art and poetry. Co-curates an accompanying exhibition of erotic paintings at the Art Center.

He has three children: Elisar (born in 1971), a filmmaker based in London; Mayumi (born in 1973), a model and actress currently living in Los Angeles; and Jasmine (born in 1977), a fashion stylist working in London.