Iligan City bid for world record in collection of used clothing gets boost

ILIGAN CITY – The city’s bid for the world record in the heaviest collected used clothing category, which Spain currently holds, got a boost as residents turned nearly 12 tons of discarded clothing by the time the deadline ended Friday.

Melvin Anggot, city information officer, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer the three-day campaign that started Tuesday was dubbed One city, One Project, One Goal, One Heart, One Day, One Record or 11-11-11.

By 11 p.m. on Friday, the city campaign was able to collect a total of 11,754.35 kilograms of used clothing. These were weighed at the city plaza, Anggot said.

He said officials were confident that Guinness would strike off Spain as holder of the record on heaviest used clothing collected.

In 2010, Spain managed to collect only 6,880 kilograms of used clothing.

“Iligan City, which is vying for the world record had collected some 76,650 pieces of used clothes,” Anggot said.

Spain’s record was surpassed as early as 4:30 p.m. Friday when residents and other donors turned over 8.5 tons of used clothing. By the time the deadline ended, the donated clothes weighed nearly double than what Spain had collected, he said.

“I was so amazed by the sense of volunteerism of the people,” Councilor Michelle Sweet said.

Mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz said the city’s attempt at another world record showed that everything can be achieved with unity.

“The binding of strength attained a common purpose,” he said.

Cruz said once the attempt had been officially recognized by Guinness, the used clothing would be distributed to less fortunate individuals on Christmas.