By Farah G. Decano   DAGUPAN City’s advancement seems to be blocked by a Goliath of an opposition.  With seven members solidly identified with the opposition and only five with the administration, it would seem impossible for any proposed budget to be enacted, right? Wrong. It is possible. The enactment…

By Farah G. Decano             I WAS in utter disbelief when it was confirmed to me by her legal consultant, Atty. Doris Barrozo, that the first woman mayor of Calasiao, the Honorable Mamilyn “Maya” Caramat, has gone too soon. Her sweet smile whenever I saw her and her husband, General…

By Farah G. Decano   HAPPY 2023! There is still much to be desired for our beloved Dagupan City.  While its past leaders may have had exerted their best efforts to steer our city to progress, the impact of their accomplishments diminishes as new challenges present themselves every year.  To…

By Farah G.Decano ACCOLADES are not the monopoly of the famous, the rich and the powerful. It is time we recognized the hard work of the people whom we meet in our daily toil.   For this column, I wish to show my appreciation to the security guards at CSI. Recently,…

By Farah G Decano   LAST December 22, I was thrilled to attend my first graduation as Dean of the College of Law.  I thought to myself that, by attending the ceremonies, I will be honoring the memory of my father who was the first dekano among the Decanos in…

By Farah G. Decano   POPULAR among lawyers and law students, former Dean Chel Diokno was invited as resource speaker on the topic, “Right To Hope,” on December 5, 2022 at the College of Law of the Lyceum Northwestern University in Dagupan City. Encouraged by his meekness and “masa” charm,…

By Farah G. Decano    THE impasse between Mayor Belen Fernandez and the majority bloc of the Sangguniang Panlungsod is taking its toll on the qualified scholars of Dagupan City. Politicking is definitely causing this distress, not only amongst the students but also on their parents.  Some were forced to…

By Farah G. Decano   WHEN I was a law student in the 1990s, I made it a point to drive to Ayala Avenue in Makati during the festive Christmas season to enjoy the fascinating and elaborate light displays. The spectacle of a multitude of blinking lights formed into various…

By Farah G. Decano   TODAY, I received a letter from Executive Judge Mervin Samadan of the Dagupan City Hall of Justice extolling five law externs from the Lyceum-Northwestern College of Law who happened to be observing the procedures in his sala.  He saw the smartly-dressed young men and women…

By Farah G. Decano   LAST Thursday, Senator Raffy Tulfo took Senator Cynthia Villar to task about the alleged indiscriminate conversion of agricultural lots into residential and mixed-use developments.  Coming from a family that develops land into subdivisions, Senator Villar defended their business undertaking and stated that they only target…