Duterte girding for war vs water concessionaires By Al S. Mendoza    PRESIDENT Duterte seems determined to engage into “war” the owners of Maynilad Water Services and Manila Water Co. He has drafted a contract to renew the agreements giving both companies the right again to sell/distribute water to the 16…

History is on Trump’s side By Al S. Mendoza DONALD Trump was impeached last December 18. He becomes only the third President of the United States to suffer that fate. The first was Andrew Johnson getting axed 151 years ago in 1868, followed by Bill Clinton in 1998. But impeachment…

New Year message same as Christmas: love By Al S. Mendoza DO you know the fastest days to disappear every year? They are the days between Christmas and New Year. We have just celebrated the birth of Christ and, suddenly, there is another day to rejoice with as much gusto:  New…

What is Christmas if not love, forgiving? By Al S. Mendoza AS we celebrate Christmas once again on Wednesday, one question from several questions will stick out anew like the proverbial sore thumb. Like, really, what is Christmas? Always oozing with wisdom, I eagerly await the word of Pope Francis…

Cayetano, my biggest SEA Games hero By Al S. Mendoza THE challenge was daunting, yes. But we didn’t only survive it. We passed it with flying colors. That was the essence of our victory in the just-concluded 30th SEA Games held on home soil. The test was actually two-pronged. One,…

2nd SEA Games crown virtually in the bag By Al S. Mendoza AS I write this, we are ahead by a whopping 32 gold medals over Vietnam. We are now way past the halfway mark of the 12-day Games and it will be next to impossible for Vietnam to overhaul…

Getting baptized again at the Jordan River By Al S. Medoza  OUT of love of my recent five-country swing, I collected objects that are meaningless if we go by strict standards. Leaves.  Pebbles.  Napkins. Commonly called now as the Holy Land Pilgrimage, my wife and I were with 50 Filipinos or so…

Pyramids on my mind By Al S. Mendoza “SEE the Pyramids along the Nile “Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle “Just remember, darling, all the while “You belong to me…” Those are the first lines of the classic ditty, “You Belong To Me,” popularized by the iconic Jo…

English now widely spoken in Japan By Al S. Mendoza MOST Japanese today speak English.  Which is good. It makes for easy traveling now to the so-called land of the rising sun. It made many wonders for me, not to mention the ease of moving around during my recent coverage of…

Electric will soon replace gasoline as fuel for cars By Al S. Mendoza   TOKYO, Japan—When you are here, the first thing you do is look for ramen—mami in the Philippines.  No, you don’t sip it.  You don’t even eat it.  You slurp it.  As loud as you can.   Srrrrrppp! You take it…