Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronnie Puno was constantly seen and photographed clad with bright yellow, a popular color during the 1986 People Power Revolution. But according to Puno, his choice of color was not a sign of commemoration nor mourning. It was just a matter of aesthetics.
“My advisers told me it fits my skin tone,” said the fair-skinned Puno, clad in a mustard yellow shirt during an interview Friday night.
From official functions, socials and press conferences, people can see Puno wearing his airy polo barong or collared shirts all in the shade of yellow.
“My favorite color actually for shirts is green. But when I started having pictures taken in green, the photographer was saying it doesn’t fit me well so he said you should go into other colors. And this is what they chose,” said Puno.
Puno has served all presidents except for Aquino starting from the deposed Ferdinand Marcos. But he also revealed that he was a “great admirer” of the late president, and said the outpouring love seen during Aquino’s wake only “strengthens our democracy.”
“I think what that showed is that people go beyond partisanship when we find occasions to remember the contributions to our democracy of great leaders,” said Puno, who said he attended one of the Masses for Aquino who succumbed to cancer on August 1.
Puno has been very vocal of his political plan on the coming 2010 elections but denied that the ads were not political, just an information campaign that “deals with specific things I believe people are not aware of.” One of Puno’s accomplishments as DILG secretary is the special PNP desks for women’s complaints and the continuing recruitment by the PNP.
“These are information ads regarding different accomplishments of the department and this was the idea of some people here, and they are the ones who actually even placed the ads,” Puno told reporters on the sidelines of a get-together with his friends and family that closed the posh Paparazzi bar and restaurant at the Edsa Shangri-La hotel for the night.
