Ukay

During city or town celebrations and festivals, folks look forward not only to the competitions, concerts and events but also to flea markets.

The plaza is usually packed with tents which offer various products - cheap bracelets and earrings; pirated cds and dvds; toys and more.

For the past five years or so, as more and more people patronize ukay2x items, these stuff conquered the flea markets as well. Ukay stuff are second-hand clothes (shirts, dresses, pants, shorts, etc.), bags and shoes.

I myself am a certified ukay girl. They say that doing ukay is a talent, then at least I have one talent to boast of. More than half of my blouses are bought from ukay2x stalls in GenSan, Cotabato and Kidapawan. I have yet to buy ukay blouses here in Marbel.

While I am proud of this talent and the amount I save because I need not buy expensive branded clothes, I could not be too proud to be part of a big corrupt system.

I learned years ago that the stuff we call ukay should go the less fortunate. They are donations from people in the first world countries - intended to be given to the victims of calamities, to those who live in the depressed areas and to the needy who could not afford to buy clothes. But as the items reach the shores of our country, these relief goods are sold by officials to ukay stall owners. The goods never reach their supposed destinations.

Sad, right? And what is more sad is that we seem to be blind or we pretend to be blind from all these. Why, I even bought a pair of red doll shoes from ukay yesterday. I'm no hypocrite, I love the red shoes...

FYI: A flea market is a place where vendors come to sell or trade their goods. The goods are usually inexpensive and range in quality depending on several factors, which might include urban or rural location, part of the country, or popularity or size of the flea market.

The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris. It is a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris. They earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there.