MANILA, Philippines - If home is in the heart, Romi Mananquil never left.

In 1985, as a hard-up, ?no-name? artist in Canada, where he experienced rejection after rejection hunting for a job, he would sometimes shed tears pining for the wife and children he was forced to leave behind.

Today, he has reunited with his family and established a name in the art enclaves of his adopted country.

Mananquil is preparing for his first solo show in the Philippines April 15-30 at Corridor Gallery of the UP College of Fine Arts in Diliman, Quezon City.

The show, sponsored by the college and the UP Alumni Association of Toronto, is among the cultural fare being mounted by UP to commemorate its centennial this year.

It will also be Mananquil?s way of fulfilling his remaining aspirations as a Filipino expat artist.

The years of uphill struggle in Canada are over. After spending time painting banners and streamers, he has found his niche in Canadian art circles as a sought-after portrait artist. He is now a member of the prestigious Portrait Society of America.

In 1988, he founded the Philippine Artists Group of Canada, which is committed to the propagation and recognition of Philippine art in the region. The group is thriving and continues to hold shows in various Canadian cities.

Their second show in Manila, ?Kulay Balikbayan,? will open at the Ayala Museum on April 29 to signal the start of a series of exhibitions to celebrate the PAG?s 20th anniversary this year.

Idyllic childhood

Mananquil spent his idyllic childhood in Pangasinan, and his adolescence in Caloocan and Tondo, Manila. It was here where his art began to flower and he saw his first art pieces published, as chief artist of the Torres High School campus paper.

He graduated cum laude from UP, taught and headed the Visual Arts Department, was named artist in residence, and formed a triumvirate with former classmates Ben Cabrera and Dan Dizon.

He also notched early successes as illustrator in Liwayway magazine, graphic artist in big advertising firms, and a Central Bank-commissioned designer of the 1983 series of Philippine bank notes and coins.

He and his wife, Aniceta Aquino, now live in a two-story brick dwelling in Mississauga, Ontario, which houses a virtual Filipiniana collection: bamboo furniture in the living room; capiz shades on lamps; buntal hats strewn about the place; Mananquil?s own paintings of urban and rural Philippines hanging on the walls.

Little to prove

At 65, Mananquil seems to have little to prove. But he is coming home, he says, because ?I want to be accepted again by my own countrymen in my own country.?

?My long absence has stalled my journey toward an artistic identity. My contemporaries used to compare me to Botong Francisco and Fernando Amorsolo, on account of similarity in technique and subject matter,? he adds.

The comparison has flattered and humbled him, but has not given him fulfillment.

The UP show ?will retrace my steps toward an identity. It?s for my countrymen to discern. Once they do, I am on my way.?

The author blogs as annamanila at www.ode2old.blogspot.com