Home is my brother By Al S. Mendoza A BROTHER OF MINE has arrived from Toronto, Canada, where he has been living for the last 19 years. In the family, we call him Kuya Pepito. We still do. But his full name being Jose, my brother’s college chums had rechristened…

A blast from New York By Al S. Mendoza RENATO E.O. VALDEZ, my classmate from Grade 1 to Fourth Year high school whom we fondly call Rene, e-mailed me last week to say he reads the Sunday PUNCH through the internet. “I now read your General Admission regularly through the…

Pacquiao is No. 1 turncoat By Al S. Mendoza MANNY Pacquiao is presently proving himself to be the country’s No. 1 turncoat. Do you know what he had just done? He left ABS-CBN for GMA-7. He gave no reason for the transfer. Now I know why Pacquiao deserted the Philippine…

Pacquiao not focused By Al S. Mendoza IT is barely a month when Manny Pacquiao fights Marco Antonio Barrera. Is Pacquiao ready? But to answer that would be getting ahead of the story. The Oct. 7 fight in Las Vegas, Nevada, has become hot conversation stuff since it was announced…

Road to Suratos By Al S. Mendoza THERE are stretches of roads between Tarlac and Camiling where concrete roads are being punctured by heavy equipment traversing them every now and then. Motorists can see that the roads are under repair. But my golly, they completely, literally destroy the roads there…

Pacquiao flirting with disaster By Al S. Mendoza MANNY Pacquiao was in the news recently for having suddenly decided to leave his training camp in Los Angeles, California. He came home after spending only two days in America in a complete reversal of schedules. The people’s champ was supposed to…

Z. Gerry, AJ & Boom Boom By Al S. Mendoza THERE was one spectacular aspect in our 5-1 victory over Mexico in the Boxing World Cup in Sacramento, California, on Sunday (Aug. 12). And   it’s this: The knockout wins of  Z Gorres and Gerry Peñalosa. Like many of our so-called…

Finding Padre Pio By Al S. Mendoza MAYOR Rey Velasco of Sta. Barbara and I see each other mostly on a Friday. Not a planned date, though. Just heeding a vow: Love God with all our heart. In fact, to Rey and I, TGIF does not only stand for “Thank…

Talent & time By Al S. Mendoza WE have the talent but, unfortunately, not the time to produce wonders on the world stage. Talent alone is not enough.  Time is talent’s twin brother always. The San Miguel-Pilipinas Team was oozing with talent but, alas, it didn’t have time to make…

Listen Guv Spines By Al S. Mendoza “Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell…”  The Beatles   GUV Spines, as our Publisher-Editor loves to call Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr., has promised to be a “listening governor” of Pangasinan. I like that. You…