No ban on ‘ukay-ukay’ stores — DSWD

Ukay-ukay faithful and regular shoppers at the used-clothing chain "Eloy’s" can now heave a big sigh of relief.

The Arroyo administration has backpedaled on a ban on so-called ukay-ukay (literally, "to dig into") stores and other business establishments selling used clothes all over the country.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman yesterday clarified that she never ordered a ban on the operation of ukay-ukay stores.

Soliman also clarified that President Arroyo was misquoted by media when she was reported as supporting the ban and burning of ukay-ukay clothing.

Soliman said the President simply said she stands behind her Cabinet secretaries but the media interpreted that to mean that she was supporting the purported move to ban ukay-ukay stores.

What was banned in an administrative order was the granting of tax exemptions on donations of used clothing by foreign charitable organizations, she said.

Soliman explained that Administrative Order No. 19, dated Jan. 9, prohibits tax exemptions on imported used clothing "to safeguard the health of the 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."

The order also aims to prevent instances when used clothes, donated as relief goods, find their way to ukay-ukay stores instead of being distributed to disaster victims.

Soliman stressed the DSWD has no mandate to dismantle ukay-ukay stores or burn used clothing sold in these stores. The mistaken report arose from simply from a misunderstanding of the administrative order, she added. - Rainier Allan Ronda