Filipino school custodian donates land for schools in homeland

Published: 2004-06-22

WARWICK, R.I. (CNS) -- Al Umiten has been the custodian and plant manager at St. Peter School in Warwick for a dozen years. He is well-respected, well-loved and an important part of the school community. But in his homeland, the Philippines, Umiten is not only similarly respected, but he is a hero. He and his wife and other family members donated land for a high school and an adjacent elementary school to be built in the small town of Barrio Looc, where Al Umiten grew up. The schools have been built on the side of a mountain overlooking Cabugao Bay; land there has been owned for generations by the Umiten family. Al Umiten and his siblings donated the land for the elementary school, which is nearly finished. His aunt, Amor Umiten Amores, donated the land for the high school, which is completed.

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