This groundbreaking youth column now covers a lot of ground through its digital portals.
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.
