*This is one of the articles I made for my Feature Writing Class under Sir Ruey De Vera. Issue-topic articles have to be my favorite form of feature articles.
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Fashion rights
By Duey T. Guison
EVERYONE has a right to be fashionable.
However, not everyone here in the Philippines is rich enough to shop for clothes at department stores. The prices of clothes in stores are usually (if not always) too expensive for the normal Filipino consumer.
Because of over-priced clothing in department stores, the ukay-ukay culture was born. Used clothing coming from overseas countries such as the United States, these clothes are sold at a fraction of a price compared to clothes coming from department stores.
Ukay-ukay shoppers Xianne Arcangel, Betsy Esguerra, and Ferdie Lajom love the excitement in shopping for ukay-ukay clothes.
“Ukay-ukay is cheap!!! You get clothes that are fairly good and durable, stylish even, for a cheap price,” Ferdie said.
“[Ukay-ukay] offer stuff that are really different from what you see in the malls; unique stuff, stuff that you can't see anywhere else,” said Betsy.
With ukay-ukay, the Filipino masses have a better opportunity towards acquiring good and fashionable clothes at rock bottom prices. Imagine getting Italian leather shoes for 100 pesos, or T-shirts and blazers that are as low as 10 pesos; those prices surely make the most of the little money the Filipino has. “Marami ka nang mabibili sa 1000 [pesos],” said Betsy.
“If one is diligent enough to sift through the pile of used clothing, she may find clothes that are still in very good condition... all at cheap prices,” Xianne said.
“You get that rewarding ‘YEEEEEEEES!’ ‘pag may nakita ka,” Betsy exclaims, emphasizing the thrill with buying items from ukay-ukay stores
Ukay-ukay by itself has been beneficial for Filipinos as it provides affordable clothing and it has enriched the bargain-hunting abilities of the Filipino. The culture of ukay-ukay encouraged the Filipino that they could dress up and be in style without spending too much money on clothing, shoes, and accessories. “You can have a whole set of wardrobe for a low price,” Ferdie exclaimed.
“You can find a greater variety of clothes in ukay-ukay stores compared to department stores,” said Xianne.
Even though shopping in ukay-ukay stores may be a challenge, especially in terms of scoring a good deal, this does not hinder ukay-ukay shoppers to continue shopping for bargains. “Bonus na lang if I manage to find a branded outfit,” Xianne said.
In fact, the culture of ukay-ukay has become part of the Filipino culture already. “ukay-ukay shops are now consider as a norm or part of society,” said Ferdie.
However, some congressmen and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) office beg to differ with the advantages of ukay-ukay, and with ukay-ukay being part of the Filipino culture.
For these people, the principle of ukay-ukay is not beneficial for the Philippines. Because of improper import duties, ukay-ukay clothing is not taxed, thus making the government lose millions of dollars in revenue. In addition, they believe that since ukay-ukay is considered to be secondhand clothing, it is therefore illegal, as stated in the constitution.
Originally, secondhand clothing was allowed as donations, which were used especially during times of disasters, like major storms and earthquakes. However, the importation of secondhand clothing was later prohibited by DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman in 2002 upon realization that secondhand clothing, which is supposed to be for donation, are being sold instead.
As a response, members of the House of Representatives (HoR) and BoC Commissioner Angelito Alvarez propose to tax ukay-ukay, thus making it legal. Alvarez proposed that a 10-12% tax in secondhand clothing could generate millions of pesos in revenue, should they agree to impose tax on ukay-ukay clothing.
In the proposal of imposing tax on ukay-ukay clothing, they note Republic Act 4653 as one of their reasons on why they initially are against ukay-ukay. In the said Republic Act, it states that “[as] the act to safeguard the health of the people and maintain the dignity of the nation, the commercial importation of textile articles is prohibited . . . [unless] used clothes are intended to be made into rags.”
For the record, the BoC has confiscated more than 40 containers containing secondhand clothing.
Another reason why they oppose against secondhand clothing is because of claims that it breeds corruption among officials of customs. For Cebu 5th district Representative Red Durano, he cites that although secondhand clothing is imported to the Philippines as donations to charity institutions, rich businessmen take advantage of this in order to gain profit from it.
Aside from being a breeding ground for corruption, the proliferation of ukay-ukay also hurts the local textile industry, as ukay-ukay stores become “a full-blown illegal business operation,” as said by Iloilo representative Janette Garin.
However, even though Garin is against the proliferation of ukay-ukay, she disagrees with the BoC’s proposal of legalizing it.
In addition, the BoC’s proposal to legalize ukay-ukay clothing in the Philippines sparked criticism from the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), citing that this “could motivate ukay-ukay smugglers to continue bringing used clothes into the country for commercial use.”
Yet despite these criticisms against secondhand clothing, some members of congress and ukay-ukay shoppers alike are against the taxing of secondhand clothing.
Both Mt. Province representative Maximo Dalog and Baguio representative Bernardo Vergara sees the taxing of secondhand clothing as a burden for the poor people as taxing ukay-ukay would increase their prices considerably, which would become beyond the reach of the people.
In addition to this, both Dalog and Vergara add that taxing ukay-ukay is also a burden to people involved with the said business since they will be paying more taxes in addition to business and income taxes. In relation to this, both fear that by taxing ukay-ukay, jobs would be lost in the process as well.
Betsy, Ferdie, and Xianne would disagree as well with the proposal for taxing ukay-ukay clothing for a variety of reasons.
For Ferdie, he notes that not all ukay-ukay items are “not always items that are manufactured,” since for him, there is also the fakes or imitation items to be considered as well. In addition to this, he notes that the price of ukay-ukay items varies from one item to another, making imposing taxes a challenge. “Tax and ukay-ukay items do not go together.”
Also, Ferdie likens ukay-ukay items to items found in garage sales, since both ukay-ukay stores and garage shops essentially do the same thing: to sell used clothing at bargain prices that are very affordable.
For Xianne, she notes that by taxing ukay-ukay items would mean destroying the business all by itself since it would mean that prices of ukay-ukay items would be almost the same as the prices of items in department stores. “I wouldn't be surprised if, after taxing, the clothes' prices would be at par with those from department stores,” said Xianne.
In addition to the danger of destroying the ukay-ukay business should taxation occur, Xianne said that it would benefit the government and big businesses but it would greatly affect people from lower income brackets, of which are the majority customers of ukay-ukay shops.
“A lot of the customers are poor, those wanting to score a 3-for-100 clothes bargain. They go to these shops even when buying clothes from Divisoria is an alternative because used clothes tend to be more durable than the new, China-made ones,” Xianne added.
In addition, Betsy adds that the point of buying ukay-ukay clothes would become useless once tax is imposed in them. For her, the main customers of ukay-ukay clothing are not necessarily from upper class or lower class brackets; people who buy from ukay-ukay are those who want to find clothing that is both fashionable and affordable at the same time.
“Kung lalapatan pa ng tax, eh ‘di what's the point. Talo lahat. Wala na masyadong bibili [ng ukay-ukay],” said Betsy.
With regards to Garin’s stand on ukay-ukay being commercialized when it becomes legalized if it would be taxed, all three of them beg to disagree with Garin’s stand.
Because of the target audience of ukay-ukay stores, Betsy, Ferdie, and Xianne disagree that the proliferation of ukay-ukay shops would affect the income of large department stores. “Konti lang rin naman nabibili ng mga lower-class folks from department stores, so I don't think they're the store's target market,” said Xianne.
“Iba talaga yung ino-offer ng department store sa ukay-ukay,” said Betsy, pointing out that department stores and ukay-ukay stores do cater to different people from different social classes.
“Department stores feature items that are priced at a premium but have a higher value compared to items in ukay-ukay shops,” said Ferdie. “Ukay-ukay shops on the other hand price their items lower than the branded items in the department stores because they target those who can only afford such a price.”
When asked about ukay-ukay being tagged as illegal by the BoC, DSWD secretary Soliman, and other advocates for the taxation of ukay-ukay, Ferdie points out that ukay-ukay is definitely not equated to smuggling. “If we are referring as smuggling as stealing or as an act that is illegal, then why is it prevalent in the entire Philippines?” Ferdie questions.
Betsy also adds that she does not believe ukay-ukay is equated to smuggling, since she said that as far as she knows, clothes from ukay-ukay stores are sourced from surplus clothes coming from Hong Kong and Korea.
Although taxing secondhand clothing, or more known as ukay-ukay items to the Filipino citizen, is still being considered and not yet an official policy, fellow shoppers of ukay-ukay items still hope that the said proposal would not push through.
“Kung matuloy yung tax . . . mahirap nang makakita ng ukay-ukay ngayon na okay parin yung presyo,” said Betsy.
For Xianne, should the taxation of ukay-ukay items would push through, the ukay-ukay industry will be killed as the main point of people buying items from ukay-ukays stores, which is getting rock-bottom deals, would be gone. “What else would be the incentive for buying used clothes when I can buy new ones at the same prices?”
Instead, Xianne suggests that instead on the government being “hell-bent on taxing every possible commodity or service,” the government should put in consideration in assessing the situation first before deciding to add additional taxes, which would increase the burden on the part of the citizens. Also, she suggest that instead of “suck[ing] the blood out of the small fish[es],” the the government should “run after the big fishes who don't pay the right taxes.”
Betsy shares the same sentiment, mentioning that the government should tax other things and not ukay-ukay items.
For Ferdie, it is more important for the government to tackle serious issues than creating profit generating schemes that “would greatly affect the lives of the less fortunate Filipinos in a negative way.”
After all, the most important thing for them with regards to this issue is that the government instead should improve its tax collection rather than adding new taxes.
“Improving tax collection's better than imposing new ones,” said Xianne.
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