Now Open Daily, National Museums Seek To Attract Even More Visitors

The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) will open its doors to the public seven days a week.

NMP deputy director general for museums Jorell Legaspi announced the museum being open seven days a week starting this month during the unveiling of national hero Jose Rizal’s artwork “Josephine Sleeping,” inspired by his wife Josephine Bracken, at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila on Rizal Day, Dec. 30.

Previously, the NMP closed on Mondays, “when we clean our premises and maintain our collection,” and is open from Tuesday to Sunday.

Legaspi said admission to the NMP complex in Manila – the National Museum of Fine Arts that used to be the old Congress building, the National Museum of Anthropology and the National Museum of Natural History that used to be national government buildings – as well as 15 other museums under its watch across the country would remain free of charge to visitors, as it has been since 2016.

Nationwide, the NMP welcomed “close to three million visitors” in 2024, almost two million of which visited the NMP complex in Manila, he added.

Legaspi thanked the Marcos administration, its supporters in Congress and other stakeholders “for supporting the ongoing growth and strengthening of the NMP.”

At present, the NMP is further building up its frontline workforce “to be able to respond to increasing demand for museum services and give a better visitor experience,” Legaspi said.

He also disclosed that the NMP is set to open this year three new museums in Clark, Pampanga; Baler, Aurora and Davao City.

The proposed NMP Clark Museum will be located in what used to be the Clark Air Base Hospital, which Legaspi described as a “haunted hospital.”

The then hospital was used during World War II and the Vietnam War, when many soldiers died, according to online resources.

The General Appropriations Act 2025, posted on the website of the Department of Budget and Management, states that the NMP, which is classified as under the Department of Education, is given a budget of P1,569,015,000.

Included in its projects is “the rehabilitation of the former United States Air Force Hospital in Clark Freeport, Pampanga and the conversion to National Museum of the Philippines Central Luzon, Phase II” worth P380 million.