Inquirer treats subscribers to Nat’l Museum tour
Artist Keith Haring may have popularized the phrase “art is for everybody” about four decades ago, but the statement remains true to this day.
On Oct. 18, 16 subscribers of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), both the print and digital editions (through Inquirer Plus, PDI’s premium subscription service), had the chance to go on a guided tour to all three buildings of the National Museum of the Philippines—the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the National Museum of Natural History—as a treat by the paper.
Different generations
The National Museum guided event was the first leg of Inquirer Plus’ series of museum tours, and only one of the many events to be held in celebration of PDI’s 40th anniversary this year.
Much like the acclaimed “Spoliarium,” the Juan Luna masterpiece hanging in its own special gallery in the National Museum, PDI has seen different generations.
Some may say gone are the days when newspapers were the primary source of information and entertainment, but one couple, doctors Claro and Nympha Mundin, begged to differ.
Both senior citizens, Claro and Nympha said they still feel excited whenever they get hold of their daily PDI print subscription.
“We always tell [the courier] that when the issue arrives, he should ring the doorbell, so that we know it’s already there,” Nympha said.
“Early in the morning, the newspaper’s already with him (my husband). When we’re going out, he gets it, and then he reads it in his free time. He even brings his copy to work,” she added.
Nympha said that it was her friends and cousins who influenced them to become PDI subscribers.
“We were thinking of subscribing [to a newspaper], then I saw PDI when I visited their house. I asked for their opinions. They said the writing’s beautiful, it’s good, it’s complete, everything is there. The contributors are also great.”
Likewise, family members were also a factor in the decision of Alan Infante Claveria, and couple Rene and Josephine Berdan, to avail themselves of PDI’s print subscription.
Claveria, in his 60s, said he has been a PDI reader since college, but it was his father who gave him the idea to become a print subscriber.
Required home reading
“Every day, my father, already in his 80s, would cross the street just to buy [a] copy of the Inquirer,” he recalled.
As a gift to his dad, Claveria bought a PDI print subscription.
Similarly, the Berdan couple, also in their 60s, decided to purchase a print subscription for Rene’s 88-year-old mother, who still prefers reading a physical copy of the paper.
Reading newspapers has been part of their lives, said the couple, with Josephine adding, “When I was young, my grandfather would require us to read a newspaper. It was mandatory. You can’t do anything else without reading [a newspaper] first.”
Gen Zs Hanna Casano and Gillian Guiang, on the other hand, have their parents to thank for influencing them to read, and eventually, subscribe to PDI.
Hanna said: “Sometimes, if I’m in a 7-Eleven [store] and the headline is interesting, I’ll pick it up.”
After seeing an Inquirer Plus booth at a retail event, Hanna, a reader since her her younger years, became curious. She then decided to install the app and purchase a subscription.
Despite the emergence of social media and various news platforms, PDI subscribers believe the newspaper is still important 40 years into the business.
Claro and Nympha, avid readers of the opinion and lifestyle sections, believe PDI is able to adapt despite the changing times.
For Claveria, PDI provides “balanced reporting” and information with “no sugarcoating,” and covers stories whether they are “good or bad.” The paper also tries to “get the points of view of the interested personalities [so] you get the whole spectrum of the story.”
“It gives a balanced view. Readers [are] left to decide for themselves which one to believe,” he said.
PDI delivers “two or even multiple sides of the coin to give you more points of view” and a “much more comprehensive discussion of what’s happening in our country,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hanna and Gillian use PDI as an instrument to fact-check posts they see on social media, as they believe PDI “filters the noise” and is “reliable.”
“It’s one of the more credible information sources that we look at,” Gillian said.
Josephine called PDI a platform that already has a “[good] reputation” and is “unbiased” and “balanced,” recalling her earliest memory of the paper during the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
Eye-opener
The Berdan couple said that while they prefer reading in digital format nowadays, they still love to touch and smell a freshly delivered newspaper.
News delivered online, they noted, “helps to encourage the young ones to read the paper [and news in general],” Josephine said.
October is officially the National Museums and Galleries Month, thus PDI’s decision to kickstart its 40th anniversary celebration by bringing some of its most loyal readers to the National Museum. It was a treat the subscribers welcomed warmly, as they marveled at the paintings, sculptures, artifacts, and other works of art across the three National Museum buildings.
“On our trips abroad, we always include museums in our itinerary, but we are not amazed,” Nympha said. “This one, here in the Philippines, is really an eye-opener.”
Hanna and Gillian, both museum enthusiasts, also expressed their appreciation for the guided tour, which they said felt “a bit more directed” since it had a storyline that was “all tied together.”
Josephine said her favorite part of the event was the invitation itself, since it was her first time to visit the National Museum.
Her husband, Rene, quipped, “It’s so ironic that we’re in the Philippines and we’ve not visited. I’m 62 and she’s 60. What happened in our lives? Why didn’t we come here [sooner]?”
If there was one thing evident during the museum tour, it was that art and culture, just like the Inquirer, can transcend multiple generations and boundaries.
