By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
It used to be called that. Then it became “wag-wag.” Now it is called in Metro Manila and in other parts of the country as “ukay-ukay.”
On such interesting matter was the article in Rappler I chanced upon early this morning. It is one way, surfing the news online, to kill the time away at 3:00 a.m., one of the banes of old age even if such were just a number.
When foreigner diplomats get reassigned or promoted and have to go to other countries, what do they do with their household stuff? They sell these by lot to thrift shops whose owners make a killing by selling these piece by piece.
When I was based in Metro Manila from the 1980s to the late 1990s the “American leaving” stores were concentrated in Bangkal, Makati although some were found along Kamuning Road, Quezon City. My favorites were at Bangkal which were a must to pass by on weekends. I became a regular there some of the stores even granted me a credit line and my favorite phrase was “pwede ba four gives?” Most often, the store owners agreed and they would deliver the item or items at my office/condo in Makati.
I bought a beautiful bar set from that area made of laminated wood and matching high chairs. It was nice in the corner of a small living room. But what would a bar set be doing in my place? To serve water or fruit juice? So the set took the fancy of a friend and I gave it to him.
And of all places, I saw a table there made from Benguet Pine with 6 matching chairs. These are still with me which now need to be refurbished but I don’t have the energy now to sand paper it and apply some new varnish. Perhaps some other time.
Some of my best acquisitions there were foreign car magazines, mostly American. Like a small kid, I salivated over the nice pictures of the sports cars there. Back then Book Sale did not offer much so that pile was a jackpot.
I love American car magazines compared to those from the UK. The tone and composition of UK articles usually appear to be staid to me. Even the jokes that should make articles come alive are often subdued.
Books? I bought a lot there. But they are now nowhere to be found.
An item I sorely missed was a four-by-four jack for off-road trips. Why did I not get that? Pwede namang four gives. He he he.
Clothes like suits? There were lots of nice things there but I did not care much about sartorial matters.
If you keep walking along that road towards EDSA you will end up beside the BLTBCO bus station which we are all very familiar. It has now a new name, DBLTBCO. It must have been to evade obligations to employees or suppliers of transportation needs.
By the way that Rappler article enumerated good ukay-ukay areas around the country. She mentioned the Midnight Market along Harrison Road. Some kids call it Nightmare Market.
Let us patronize thrift shops of whatever kind. It means recycling or helping our beloved Mother Earth.**
