In case you haven’t noticed, the 2010 campaign is a war of colors. Gibo Teodoro and Edu Manzano are green, Noynoy Aquino is yellow, Mar Roxas is blue while Bayani Fernando is...pink? Manny Villar is orange and his running-mate Loren Legarda is white. But Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada claims, and perhaps rightly so, that he’s the original Kulay Orange.

During a free-wheeling dinner with the movie press on Feb. 6, Erap explained the orange “history.”

“When I ran for senator, orange ang kulay ko. When I ran for vice president, orange ang kulay ko. When I ran for president, orange pa rin ang kulay ko. Why orange? The Marcos color is red and the Cory color is yellow. So para magkaroon ng unity, I chose orange as my color. Put red and yellow together and what do you get? Orange. Kaya akin ang kulay na ‘yan.”

Seconded Erap’s son, reelectionist Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, “Of course, we are still using the color orange, even if somebody is copying not only our color but lahat-lahat na --- including being maka-masa. If you recall, since my father ran for mayor, for senator, for vice president and then for president, he has always been identified with the masa. His battlecry is ‘Erap Para sa Mahirap.’ ‘Yung iba d’yan, matagal nang maraming pera, ngayon lang naging maka-mahirap.”

Asked for his opinion when he shared merienda with the movie press (in case you haven’t noticed, all candidates seem to be gravitating toward the movie press) on Feb.8 Annabel’s (Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City), Senatoriable Gilbert Remulla (under Villar’s Nacionalista Party) said, “Nobody has a monopoly of color.”

Gilbert came in a purple shirt “because it complements orange.”

Gilbert is married to Georgia Roa (daughter of Ruby Diaz-Roa, sister of Gloria Diaz) with whom he has three children.

At 39 the second to the youngest senatoriable (his partymate Adel Tamano is one month younger), Gilbert has showbiz in his past and I’m not talking about his having been an ABS-CBN newscaster/field reporter but his having been linked to Vina Morales (now a mom who has reportedly broken up with her lover) and Pia Guanio (now the girlfriend of Vic Sotto).

Gilbert said he hasn’t seen nor talked to Vina for more than 10 years and he only “dated” Pia.

“Pia is strong and smart,” said Gilbert. “She can find happiness and knows where to find it. She’s happy where she is.”
(rickylo@philstar.net.ph)