HONESTY IN PRACTICE: Second‘Honesty Store’ in Benguet Launched by PRO-Cor

La Trinidad, Benguet – Fostering integrity and rebuilding public trust, the Police Regional Office–Cordillera (PRO-Cor) has opened its very own Honesty Store on October 24, 2025, at Camp Bado Dangwa in La Trinidad, encouraging personnel and visitors to uphold honesty and accountability in their daily dealings.

The store was initiated by the Philippine National Police Officers’ Ladies Club Foundation, with a simple self-service concept—no cashier, no guard, and no questions.

According to local media, payments are placed in a box, relying on each consumer’s initiative and honesty to pay the correct amount.

Stocked with everyday snacks, drinks, and essentials, the honesty store may seem ordinary, but its true value lies in promoting a culture of integrity—the very principle the PNP Cordillera aims to strengthen across its ranks.

While this may be the first honesty store among police personnel in Benguet, it is not the first such concept in the broader community.

On July 10, 2019, a similar honesty store selling organic vegetables was opened in La Trinidad as part of the town’s Highland Vegetable Industry Week—making the PRO-Cor’s store the second of its kind in the entire province of Benguet.

The PRO-Cor Honesty Store forms part of a growing effort to instill ethical behavior within the police force, in hopes of strengthening the relationship between the police and the communities they serve.

Region-wide, Sagada is one of only two places in the Cordillera with an honesty store, aside from La Trinidad. In 2023, Piitik Wines of Sagada became more publicly known after being featured by national media.

The said store offers wines made from rice and local fruits such as bugnay, persimmon, guyabano, and blueberry, with a roadside kiosk where customers drop their payments in a box—relying on honesty to keep the system running.