On Monday, October 17, 1994, a new column debuted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Opinion section. It was called Young Blood, and the first installment was called “We should look beyond the gold” by Augusto Dizon. Young Blood was the brainchild of Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, original columnist Ma. Ceres P. Doyo and Opinion editor Jorge Aruta. “We want to know what the young are thinking about. What are their thoughts on current issues? We welcome contributions from the twentysomething and below,” read the editor’s note. Since then, Young Blood has become a rite of passage for aspiring young Filipino writers, something they need to do before they turn 30. In the 26 years since, Young Blood has featured the words of call center agents, teachers, lawyers, congressmen, directors, writers and the entire range of what young Filipinos aspire to and what they become. It has chronicled a generation’s entire range of experiences: love, loss, achievement, disappointment, life, death, independence, reconnection, the obscure, the universal, what keeps us apart and what holds us together.
It has become a thrice-a-week habit. Under the watch of editors Aruta, Rosario A. Garcellano and current editor Gibbs Cadiz, Young Blood represents the best three from the 300 entries received weekly. Inquirer Books has selected the best in seven best-selling anthologies.
Today, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, Young Blood takes the next logical step forward with the launch of Young Blood Digital.
Sign up for the InqYoungBlood newsletter and you would get five newsletters a week, the three newest columns on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays plus two classic columns on Monday and Friday. They all lead back to the new Young Blood website (inqyoungblood.com.ph) which will host the latest columns. Follow Young Blood on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get the full Young Blood Digital experience.
With Young Blood Digital we hope to bring the ground-breaking youth column closer to readers and make it more accessible, more compelling than ever. Now at your fingertips wherever you may be, Young Blood will continue to define the young Filipino experience for a new generation. Through its newsletter, site, social media accounts and something even bigger coming up, Young Blood Digital continues to evolve and grow up—just like the Filipinos who have written and read it all these years.
On behalf of the entire Team Young Blood Digital, we welcome you. Let’s go!
Ruel S. De Vera
Young Blood Brand Editor