The Neglected Truth About Ukay-ukay (Second Hand Clothing): The Philippine Government Says it’s Illegal

If health is one of the major concerns why these used clothing is prohibited, then why the Bureau of custom is donating these as relief goods during the times of calamities like floods and typhoons?

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—From Levi's to Giordano, from Guess to Ralph Lauren, from signature items or not, this place is a melting pot of all brands of clothing. It's not as big as shopping malls but it contains some stuff that you can hardly find in any common shops out there. Thrift shop as it is known to be but one might tend to spend more just to take home a unique find.

Ukay-ukay, as we call it here in the Philippines was said to derive its name from the Filipino word, halukay, meaning to dig or to look for something. Some call it “UK” for short. Ilocano speakers are used to call it wagwagan. As early as the Spanish occupation, these shops were called segunda mano (second hand) and I guess until now, everyone can still relate to its meaning.

An ukay-ukay in  Baguio City

In Baguio City, like anywhere else in the Philippines, ukay-ukay shops are everywhere. This place is renowned not just the country's summer capital city but also as the capital of second hand clothing now.

If you walk along Harrison Street, Session Road or just around the city's dry market, you'll see these thrift shops scattered almost in every corner. Locals and visitors alike go flocking around these areas like ants looking for the sweetest bits of sugar. Everyone is like in a battle of finding the cheapest yet the most unique item in this wide but shallow sea of used clothing.

A Brief History

They say that early ukay-ukay shops first opened in Baguio and Cebu City until it started to sprout in some provinces. It slowly went viral on the Philippine market through the years until Filipinos have already got used seeing it like mushrooms popping out everywhere even in small, remote islands of the country.

Many ukay-ukay buyers can attest on how much money they have saved from these stores. Aside from that, there are wider selections of clothes available here. Some hardcore fashionistas also resort to ukay-ukay to find vintage and classic shoes and bags which are usually sold in high value in specialty shops. Though you might find some items here that have slight damages considering the fact that all were second hand used, but most of them are still in good shape and condition.

Going Behind the Scene

It was three months ago when the Bureau of Customs seized over P40.5M worth of ukay-ukay goods according to the news. As a misdeclared cargo during the shipment, initially they were thought to be fishing supplies but after further investigation, it came out to be bunches of used clothing.

This is not the first case that ukay-ukay goods are caught through any port in the Philippines. Most of them were turned over to typhoon and calamity victims after. When Tropical Storm “Sendong” hit Mindanao in 2012, the Bureau of Custom again donated 20M worth of smuggled used clothing.

“It’s the best option especially that confiscated used clothing can’t be disposed of by auction since they are prohibited goods.” Custom Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said regarding this.

Confessedly, Filipinos still could not understand why these imported items were tagged to be prohibited or illegal. Some find it reasonable to just let these goods enter the country since they are cheap and could benefit most of our poor people more.

But as a matter of fact, in the Philippine Law, Statutes and Codes, imported garments like ukay-ukay are prohibited and should be banned due to some reasons:

“REPUBLIC ACT NO. 4653 - an act to safeguard the health of the Filipino people and maintain the dignity of the nation by declaring it a national policy to prohibit the commercial importation of textile articles commonly known as used clothing and rags.”

In addition, Section 2, also states “... that used clothing and rags imported in violation of this Act shall be burned in the presence of a representative of the General Auditing Office, Department of Finance and of the Office of the President..."

If health—like getting some contagious diseases—is one of the major concerns why these used clothing is prohibited, then why the Bureau of Custom is donating all these as relief goods during the times of calamities like floods and typhoons?

Typhoon victims hungry for relief goods

“Let’s Be Realistic”

There are rumors that the products being sold at ukay-ukay shops are from the US and Hong Kong. Some say that this might be a donation from other countries or from the Salvation Army. But no matter where these ukay-ukay items may come from, there are some other practical reasons why we still need to patronize or otherwise, totally ban all these.

As a conscious citizen, I could see that these thrift shops sometimes are the only resort left for the lower class when it comes to getting cheap but quality goods. Imagine how a P500 (about $11) bill could get at least 3 ukay-ukay items. For ukay hustlers, they just don’t get three items with this amount of money. They can maximize this and can buy even more!

If health concern is what they say, then there are ways to disinfect the products. Of course, you should wash it with soap and water after buying; you can soak it with chlorine or maybe boil it for few minutes like what other people do.

Meanwhile, big clothing businesses do not agree to legalize ukay-ukay. From the previous years, some proposals were submitted aiming to legalize this activity thinking they can generate more tax revenues from it. This idea just triggered fear within the country’s circles of textile industry thinking that their business’ stability would probably get even worse.

So far, the government has not raided all the ukay-ukay shops in the Philippines yet. Most of their operations involve seizing the big chunk of smuggled goods from the shipping ports. Though some people are hoping that this activity may be legalized soon, there are plenty that just don't really care about getting an ukay-ukay item nowadays.

Still, the masses patronize ukay-ukay products

The controversy on this still lives on. Smugglers are actually still on their way of figuring how to bring these used clothing in the country without totally being caught. Now, it’s your decision if you still want to continuously support these products.