He finished his primary and secondary education at the Vigan Minor Seminary and later transferred to the Convento de San Agustin.

Pilar later graduated with a bachelor's degree in art history, at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

[2] Pilar specialized in forgotten 19th and 20th-century Philippine artists including José Honorato Lozano, Justiniano Asunción, Vicente Villaseñor, Juan Arceo, Domingo Celis and Isabelo Tampinco that were published in the cultural magazine Archipelago based on newly unearthed new data and led to the revaluation of the achievements of these painters.

In 2017, Pilar published a revised version of the monograph called Isabelo Tampinco with updated information on the artist.

[5][6][7][8] Pilar died on 12 April 2021 in Manila, the Philippines at the age of 74 due to pneumonia.