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ALELI A. GUZMAN, Miss Visayas, 1932 Manila Carnival
One of the most accomplished women ever to emerge from the
Manila Carnivals is Aleli
Guzman, Miss
Visayas 1932, in the court of Emma
Zamora. Her
father was one of the country's 1st accountants,
Fortunato Guzman, while
her mother, Angela
Aguilar, was
agobernadorcillo's daughter
from Manila. The family lived on Marquez de Comillas
St., in Paco.
Aleli was a UP student when the 1932 contest beckoned. She was a
charter member of the U.P. Sigma
Delta Sorority and
was an Upsilonian Fraternity Sweetheart and Corps
Sponsor of
the U.P. Vanguard. With these "beauty and
brains" credentials, she easily made it to the winners' circle.
When the Carnival ended, she quickly put the title behind her
and pursued her education, graduating in 1937 with a double
degree in Chemistry and Medicine.
As if that achievement was not enough, she placed among the Top
10 in the medical board exams. Despite her busy schedule, she
found time to marry her college sweetheart, Antonio
Quirino, a future judge, who was quite active in the
same school associations that Aleli joined. The doctora devoted
much of her time to church and charity. She is credited with
performing the 1st abdominal operation in the Philippines. She
founded the St.
Martin Charity Hospital in
the parish of Santuario
del Sto. Cristo in San
Juan, Metro
Manila.
For her lifetime of selfless service, she was accorded the Mariang
Maya Award for Humanities (1983), Community
Development and Social Work, the Ulirang
Ina Posthumous
Award (2001)
and the Mother
Teresa Award. Nowhere did the expression "beauty with a
purpose" ring truer than in the life of Aleli
Guzman, Miss Visayas 1932.
(text by Alex R. Castro of Manila Carnivals 1908-1939) All Rights Reserved |