Ukay Ukay culture

CEBU, Philippines - I don’t know if it all started  in Baguio City or Cebu City.  I visited Baguio in 2002 and discovered that the volume of fresh vegetables on sale in the market was directly proportional to the volume of ukay-ukay on display in the adjacent stalls or buildings.  Honestly, as I forced my way through the street crowd, I couldn’t help thinking that maybe the jackets and the sweatshirts or the jeans that they wore were maybe ukay-ukay, too.  This thought never left me as I went through the city’s hot spots— the steps to the Grotto, Mine’s View, the souvenir shops, and the retro bars later in the evening.   

Here in Cebu, my farthest recollection of ukay-ukay always brings me back to Carbon Market in the 1980s.  If the Spaniards colonized Cebu from its port area, ukay-ukay had inculturated Cebu from Carbon market, especially from that area where a beige-colored lodge once stood or thrived.  As I probed into the magnitude of the effect of ukay-ukay to Cebuano culture, I could still see in those years, the colorful assortments of underwear, lingerie, shorts, jogging pants, jeans, jackets, bed sheets, and swimming trunks carefully piled up at the foot of the lodge while their owners finished off their meals, read newspapers, or simply found time to relax under makeshift vinyl roofs that protected their items.

Through the years, this new culture of patronizing used RTWs from Japan, U.S., China, and Korea has dramatically crawled its way to the heart of the city.  On both sides of Colon St. where Rosita’s once boomed, two ukay-ukay businesses are now attracting attention from commuters, as well as the usual street hikers.  Farther down, before you reach the marker of the Philippines’ oldest street near Pari-an, another business of the same nature tempts a weary passerby into a labyrinthine display of equally attractive additions to the usual RTWs—bags, rubber and leather shoes, knapsacks, stuff toys, windbreakers, and baseball caps.

The building that once shared the glory days of the old Ultra Vistarama, the movie house (where I saw my very first movie Firefox starring Clint Eastwood) is now turned into another ukay-ukay hotspot.  The business has even made the Chinaphone market look bad along that area where Wimpy’s once served the most delicious siakoy of all time.  If you go a little further south, you would be more enthralled at how ukay-ukay up with mainstream brands to occupy an air-conditioned space inside E-Mall.  This only shows that the Cebuano demand for it is rapidly increasing over time.  Northwards, you would not miss a small ukay-ukay boutique at the corner of highway Seno and A.S. Fortuna.  That area used to be a Chowking franchise.  On the surface level, a sleepy commuter inside a jeepney going to Mandaue’s old marketplace would envisage that sometimes the drive for clothing wins over one’s craving for food.

Another air-conditioned ukay-ukay is visible right across UWell in Mandaue.  There are three more, though not air-conditioned: two are lined up a few shops behind 360 Pharmacy, and the third one sits alone in front of the gate of the now deserted Mandaue City’s old mercado.  Take a jeepney to Consolacion or Lilo-an in front of Mandaue’s Cortes Hospital, and you will discover more shops along the way.  Before reaching Jagobiao, you would notice a well-lit ukay-ukay directly below Rose Pharmacy in Canduman.  In case you miss it, there’s one more beside a bank in Lilo-an, near Jollibee.

Based on my visits to the shops that I mentioned, I have observed that the scenario has changed big-time since the Carbon days.  If before only those who really cannot afford to buy the branded ones patronized ukay-ukay, or only those who don’t like to spend much on clothing frequented these shops, now even the middle-class and the young professionals go there and look for attires they can wear in the office on ordinary days as well as on wash days.  There are even well-off students who go there to look for the right wardrobe or boots for an up-coming theatre act or a short classroom presentation.  Why spend much on something you only use for a day? Or why spend more for something you can already find in the ukay-ukay shop?

Let me be one to say that although ukay-ukayhas gained so much popularity in the city and has made some people more practical in the way they spend their money, the “stigma” is still around: that if you wear ukay-ukay you are sort of inferior to those who wear the more expensive kind.  Don’t argue anymore.  Admit that in a way we sort of unintentionally pass judgment many times.  However, before you judge again, think about the school kids whose parents do not have the money to buy the “black shoes” with expensive brands. 

Think about the school kids who use bags with Korean characters printed on the small pocket because they cannot afford to buy the flashy ones.  Think about the fresh college graduate who does not have the formal clothes for a job interview.  Think about the mother who worriedly looks at the worn-out rubber shoes of her daughter but with only a little money in her hand. 

Flashy ones or ukay-ukay, in the end, we are all the same.  We are people trying to survive in a world that’s not perfectly balanced.  So, please stop passing judgment.