Twitter became abuzz after news of comedy king Dolphy’s death erupted.

For almost a month, the whole country prayed and monitored his critical condition.

One tweet once referred to the now-iconic shorts of the Comedy king.

Rock Ed Philippines executive director Gang Badoy posted: “And to all ye surfer hipster gals & guys --- you have Dolphy to thank for your uber cool surf shorts. Introduced first as Puruntong shorts.”

While there is no proof that Dolphy did inspire modern fashion with his costume choices, many Filipinos still associate him with the puruntong shorts, which nowadays have taken more stylish forms.

THE NEW PURUNTONG. What exactly is a puruntong?

According to website pinoyslang.com, a puruntong is “a type of short pants [that] is tailored extending below the knee and has bigger allowance considering the diameter of each leg hole.

“The term came from its originator, John Puruntong, of the well-known TV series John En Marsha.”

It is basically wide-leg Capri pants—or “kapre” pants as the website suggested—that looks similarly close to today’s surf shorts or board shorts.

Designed primarily as a summer or beach wear for men, board shorts come in a variety of bright colors and prints—the most famous being the hibiscus or gumamela flower.

Back in the day, Dolphy’s puruntongs were usually in plaid, fine checker prints or just plain color.

These also reincarnated recently when the “tokong” or Bermuda shorts suddenly became a fad about two years ago.

A lot of young men prefer wearing these as an alternative to denim jeans especially when going on a casual day out.

With the climate getting warmer, there’s no beating the comfort of these wide-leg shorts that allow ease of movement for the wearer.

Perhaps that’s the same reason the happy-go-lucky John Puruntong often wore those shorts?