A church-run school in Cainta, Rizal has found support from Mayor Keith Nieto as the local chief executive, a lawyer, formally endorsed the school's newly opened Juris Doctor program, the first catholic law school in the province.

Classes for the first semester of the Cainta College College School of Law's Juris Doctor Program will officially commence on 10 August 2026, as announced by the school in its social media page.

"We're very supportive of that. It's good that Cainta can produce lawyers coming from our own place and schooled in our own town," Nieto said in an interview.

A lawyer by profession, Nieto said he also intends to teach at the said school after retiring from politics.

"We welcome that. And if I had the chance and the time to teach, I would have loved teaching in the school as well. Maybe one or two subjects," Nieto said.

"Maybe later on when I'm done with my jobs as mayor of this town, I can consider being part of the academe. We welcome it because every year is an opportunity to level up the people who live here and provide them more options than what they had the year before," the local chief executive added.

Nieto said that having a law school in the town is another option being offered to the people of Cainta, which was not something available years back.

"It's just that every year, we're getting more and more popular because we're highly urbanized. And we can already directly compete with Metro Manila because most of the stuff that is available in their area is also available here in Cainta," he added.

Nieto also emphasized the significance of having legal education, especially nowadays when most people do not really understand laws which greatly affect our lives.

"It is always advantageous for someone to know the law and to practice it well, to assert what you consider as your rights, to protect what you consider as your stakes, and to help those who you feel are displaced," Nieto said.

"So it's something that we welcome because being smart is something that you can use to protect yourself and others," the local chief executive added.

Nieto likewise encouraged the youth to pursue a legal career as the local government will be helping them to reach their dream of becoming a laywer.

"Maybe we can subsidize at least a bit of the tuition for qualified students. Maybe provide allowances. It depends on the kind of assistance that they will ask from me," he said. NEIL ALCOBER