parel earned a b.s.e. from the university of the philippines. she completed a master's degree in 1949 and a doctorate in 1958 from the university of michigan; her dissertation, supervised by paul s. dwyer, was "a matrix derivation of generalized least squares linear regression with all variables subject to error". she worked at the statistical center of the university of the philippines from 1958 to 1984, and served as dean from 1969 to 1984.