White is the new black

MANILA, Philippines - “It’s a pleading,  a request, a polite demand, a super steady claim for clean, free, and honest elections,” Rock Ed Philippines founder Gang Badoy says.

Every election year, Rock Ed, a nationwide youth movement for civic involvement, hosts these gigs. They call it “MALINIS PLEASE,” a series of gatherings for clean and honest elections.

“The first one was in 2007 where thousands gathered to watch 33 bands at the Amoranto Stadium. All the artists were dared to wear white onstage—and the audience to come and perform in white as well,” Gang continues.

This year, Rock Ed has gone country-wide. Groups in Davao, Naga, Baguio, Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Dumaguete have all held their own gigs as part of the series.

“More rockers in Luzon Visayas and Mindanao  dared to wear white—an unlikely color for people of the night because it’s one way of saying out loud, of saying it again and again, that Filipinos deserve elections that are clean, honest, and free.”

“But despite how wild our nights can go,” Gang says. “We still don’t forget to say ‘please.’”

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