The Municipality of Besao, Mountain Province, is enjoining its citizens to join the call against corruption in its many forms by wearing white in the first week of November. Besao is the first LGU in the Cordillera Region to call for such an act. Photo Courtesy of Besao LGU.
NATION

Mountain Province town wears white against corruption

Aldwin Quitasol

BESAO, Mountain Province — For the entire first week of November, the people of Besao, Mountain Province, will be wearing white clothes.

In a directive, Besao Municipal Mayor Bryne O. Bacwaden urged the people of Besao, along with personnel of national government agencies and private institutions in the town, to support the wearing of white attire for the first week of November. The act serves as a symbolic protest against corruption in flood control projects.

Besao is the first local government unit in the Cordillera Region to ask its citizens to do so.

Bacwaden stated that the initiative is in solidarity with the call of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines (ECP) National Office. He added that it recognizes the collective sentiments of religious and civic groups against corruption, particularly those arising from government flood control projects.

“…and an expression of support for integrity, accountability, and transparency in governance,” the mayor said.

He added that the collective act serves as a peaceful and meaningful manifestation of the town’s shared stance against corruption in all its forms. Bacwaden said that by joining the call, the people, their offices, or institutions will become part of a community-wide statement affirming that good governance and moral responsibility remain at the heart of public service and civic life in Besao.