MANILA, Philippines?The boss of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is painting the town green?and that includes footbridges and urinals, the MMDA trucks and other vehicles, and even the uniforms of its personnel.

MMDA Chair Oscar Inocentes said the move was ?nonpolitical,? but a number of employees claimed that the timing of the paint job was highly suspect, especially with the national elections coming up in a couple of months.

Inocentes announced the agency?s change in official color at the flag ceremony on March 8.

?Starting tomorrow, pink is not our official color anymore. You may not wear your pink uniforms to work, and instead you can use civilian clothes,? he told the gathering of employees.

No yellow

?You can wear [any color] you want, just not yellow,? he added, eliciting a few chuckles.

Loaded words, those, considering the colors that currently define the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Green is the campaign color of the administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro, and yellow, of the Liberal Party?s main man, Sen. Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III.

Pink is associated with Bayani Fernando, Inocentes? predecessor at the MMDA and now the running mate of Bagumbayan standard-bearer Sen. Richard Gordon.

Fixers

While Inocentes? announcement drew cheers from a number of MMDA personnel, others were not similarly enthused.

?Why does he have to impose such a directive?? a female employee asked.

?We?ve already solved the problem of fixers here with the implementation of a uniform for personnel,? the female employee said as her coworkers nodded in agreement.

?I?m certain that without the uniform, [the fixers] will be back because easy money can be made here,? she added.

The female employee and a handful of other MMDA workers spoke with the Inquirer on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from the top brass.

Another employee said that while she was not against the directive about the uniform, she was ticked off by Inocentes? explicit instruction not to wear anything yellow at work.

?What does that have to do with our work? First, he bans the use of our pink uniform, and then he disallows anything yellow. I can?t help but think this is politically motivated,? she said, adding:

?He shouldn?t be identifying colors with politics. More so, he shouldn?t be relating our uniform and its color to politics.?

Yet another employee said her boss ?should not impose? the color of the clothes they should wear.

In another department, a number of employees handling the transactions of the MMDA were observed wearing civilian clothes. A coworker said it made her feel that she was not ?in an office anymore.?

Favoring a candidate

Uniforms provide a semblance of unity and formality because they are a government agency, she pointed out.

?Now it would also be hard to catch employees not at their work stations,? she added, referring to those who went elsewhere during working hours.

A male employee, on the other hand, said he found it hard not to relate Inocentes? move to politics.

?It?s like he?s covering up the projects of BF (Bayani Fernando). One day, people might forget BF?s legacy,? the employee said. ?It?s obvious that Inocentes is favoring one candidate.?

Last week, the MMDA came under fire for repainting the old house of Sen. Manuel Villar, the Nacionalista Party standard-bearer, in green. (Villar?s campaign color is orange.)

But agency officials said the project was implemented over a year ago, and that other houses in that area in Tondo had been repainted as well.

Official color

But Inocentes told the Inquirer that the change in the MMDA color was plain ?coincidence.?

?You know, my house of over 50 years has long been painted green. It?s still green ? Clearly, the changes are nonpolitical,? he said in an interview.

He said MMDA employees could wear any color they preferred, but reiterated that the agency?s ?official color? was now green.

On the purported ban on the color yellow, Inocentes denied imposing it.

He said that when he was a fiscal decades back, he ardently supported the detained former Sen. Benigno ?Ninoy? Aquino Jr., Aquino?s martyred father,

?I even offered to be part of the team of lawyers representing him,? Inocentes said. ?When Cory (Aquino?s mother) parted ways with President Macapagal-Arroyo, I was left on the administration?s side.?

Flag ceremony

Asked to comment on a claim of some MMDA employees that he exhibited bias in inviting only members of the administration?like senatorial candidates Silvestre Bello III, Rey Langit and Raul Lambino and Quezon City mayoral candidate Annie Susano?to the agency?s flag ceremony, Inocentes said anyone could attend the Monday event.

?In fact, we have scheduled [the attendance of opposition vice presidential candidates] Mayor Jejomar Binay and former MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando,? he said.