National Museum launches 'Una Bulaqueña' beep card on National Heroes Day

In time for National Heroes Day, commuters can soon carry a piece of art history in their wallets. The National Museum of the Philippines is set to release a limited-edition Beep card printed with Juan Luna’s celebrated painting 'Una Bulaqueña'.

The beep card will be sold starting August 25 at the museum’s Fine Arts shop in Manila. Unlike the usual transit passes seen in MRT and LRT turnstiles, this one doubles as a miniature collectible, an everyday ticket branded with one of the nation’s most enduring cultural treasures.

Luna’s Una Bulaqueña, the 130-year-old painting hailed as a luminous portrait of the Filipina spirit, has been drawing international eyes since June. The piece is currently hanging in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, marking the first time it has ever traveled outside Philippine borders. The painting is on loan until 2026, according to museum officials.

The Beep card release lines up with that milestone, and museum staff hinted it was also a way of bringing the work back home in spirit while it remains abroad.

Beep cards themselves are nothing new, they’re reloadable smart cards used across the country’s train systems (MRT, LRT) and some bus lines. But the Luna edition will stand apart, valid for four years and extendable by one. And once it expires, collectors might think twice about tossing it.

Painted in 1895 during the Spanish colonial era, Una Bulaqueña shows a young woman from Bulacan, a province long associated with wealth, culture, and nationalist fervor. Declared a National Cultural Treasure in 2008, the work reflects Juan Luna’s gift for blending European academic tradition with a distinctly Filipino spirit. More than a portrait, it’s a snapshot of identity at a turning point in history—one that Filipinos will soon be carrying in their pockets.