Nick Argel Vaquilar
Nick Argel Vaquilar, S.Th.D., was born May 3, 1970, in Ilocos Sur. He spent his formation years at San Pablo Major Seminary in Baguio City, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy, and continued theological studies at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan from 1992 to 1996. He earned a licentiate in biblical theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 2001 to 2004, and completed a doctorate in sacred theology, specializing in biblical theology, at the Loyola School of Theology of Ateneo de Manila University in 2016, defending his dissertation 'Reading the Book of Ecclesiastes Ethically' in 2015 under Dr. Helen Graham. His episcopal motto is Domine, Tuus Sum, 'Lord, I am Yours' (Psalm 119:94).
He was ordained a priest on May 5, 1997, at a chapel in Guimod, San Juan, Ilocos Sur, by Orlando B. Quevedo, then Archbishop of Nueva Segovia. After returning from Rome he taught at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology, later becoming its procurator and overseer of seminarian formation and welfare, and served as its rector until his appointment to the episcopate in May 2026. He spent 18 years in ministry in the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia before his transfer.
Pope Leo XIV appointed him the fourth Bishop of Urdaneta on May 3, 2026, succeeding Jacinto Agcaoili Jose, whose resignation was accepted the same day; Jose had led the diocese since 2005. He was consecrated on July 21, 2026, by Orlando B. Quevedo, with Marlo Mendoza Peralta and Jacinto Agcaoili Jose as co-consecrators, at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad in Bantay, Ilocos Sur, and installed on July 28, 2026, at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Urdaneta City, knocking three times on the cathedral door, with Apostolic Nuncio Charles John Brown as installing prelate and about 30 bishops present, including Cardinal Jose Advincula, who had been Vaquilar's professor during his seminary formation, and Archbishop Socrates Villegas. Urdaneta, established in 1985 in eastern Pangasinan, is a suffragan of Lingayen-Dagupan.
No decree, permission, suppression, expansion, or transfer of the Traditional Latin Mass by Bishop Vaquilar in Urdaneta was found in the searches listed.
Appointed in May 2026, the window for him as bishop runs only from May to July 2026; his public record in it is the installation address and synodal pledges, not a liturgical act.