Honesty Stores, unattended store shelves where people can pick up what they need and drop the exact payment in a box, have sprouted all over Bayambang town in Pangasinan province – first in schools and now at the Bayambang municipal hall.
The Bayambang Poverty Reduction Action Team (BPRAT) of the municipal government set up Honesty Stores in 8 public schools as a social experiment in
encouraging honesty with the hope that the practice translates to everyday life, while introducing financial skills to the schoolchildren.
BPRAT head Dr. Joel Cayabyab said in a PNA report that the launching of these stores is in line with the goals of the Bayambang Poverty Reduction Plan and a program for intensifying values formation among children.
“We thought of replicating the Batanes honesty store. It’s like hitting many targets with one stone, as we will teach the children about honesty, basic numeracy, and some will be trained on management of the store,” Dr. Cayabyab said.
The eight pilot schools were each provided seed capital worth Php10,000 for an honesty store. The money is intended to source products for selling at the store. The stores were guided by the Department of Education’s regulations on school canteen operations.
“At the end of the school year, we will be recognizing those who have maximized their capital, probably through doubling the initial PHP10,000 capital, while the school will receive incentive in the form of equipment,” the BPRAT chief added.
Launched in 2018, the collected cash from the Honesty Stores are intended for use in the regular feeding program of the town’s Stimulation and Therapeutic Activity Center, said Valentine Garcia of BPRAT in a municipal report in late July.
Garcia notes the value of the honesty store which opened on July 22 at the Bayambang Municipal Hall.
“If it becomes part of a person’s system, it (honesty) will be more useful to greater things such as honesty in clean public service and transacting inside and outside of the municipal hall,” Garcia said in the PNA interview.
CHECK THIS OUT: Cebu plastic barter store exchanges food for goods.
SEND cheers in the comments below for the people of Bayambang in Pangasinan, building up honesty in youth and public servants!
Like, Follow, Subscribe to GoodNewsPilipinas.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Good News Pilipinas! TV on YouTube, new story notifications and e-mail newsletters for updates on more Filipino Pride stories.
