Meet the new UK envoy who likes Tagalog and Chickenjoy
New British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce shares his impressions of Filipino culture and his hopes for UK-Philippines ties
There’s a new fellow in town to represent the UK in the Philippines.
You’ve probably seen his video in social media wherein he greeted Filipinos in Tagalog with a British twang.
“Malaking karangalan para sa akin na maging susunod na British Ambassador sa Pilipinas. Ikinagagalak ko na may pagkakataon ako na mapalakas pa ang ating magandang relasyon. Masaya akong nagaaral ng napakagandang wikang Tagalog, at ginagawa ko ang lahat ng abot kaya ko
para matutunan ito (It is a huge honor for me to be the next British Ambassador to the Philippines. I am pleased with this opportunity to further strengthen the good relationship our countries have. I am happily learning the beautiful Tagalog language and I am doing all I can to understand it),” said new British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce.
It’s not the first time that a Filipino-speaking British Ambassador has been appointed to the Philippines. Pruce’s predecessors, Stephen Lillie (from 2009 to 2013) and most recently, Asif Ahmad, both spoke Filipino as well. Nevertheless, Pruce’s video, which was posted on Twitter in June garnered 1,360 likes and 339 retweets.
Pruce officially assumed his duties in September after presenting his credentials to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, but has been in the country since the middle of August to prepare for his job. Prior to his appointment as British Ambassador in the country, he was deputy head of mission in UK’s embassy in Bangkok, Thailand from 2008 to 2012. He also served in the same duty in UK’s embassy in Madrid, Spain from 2012 onwards.
“Both were fascinating jobs, very stimulating jobs, and great environments to be learning, developing and preparing for this role. I think the roles in Madrid and Bangkok gave me very clear and direct experience relevant to this job, but I think everything I’ve done since I joined the Foreign Office almost exactly 27 years ago has helped prepare me for this job,” Pruce told The Philippine STAR.
During his diplomatic service in Bangkok, Pruce was able to travel the country and the region, and in the process, acquired a better understanding of UK’s role and how the country is perceived in the Southeast Asian region. He came to the Philippines with a good background on its culture.
One of the things that Pruce took the time to understand prior to his posting was the language. He studied Tagalog in the Foreign Office’s Language School in London, taking five-hour, one-on-one sessions thrice a week with two Filipina teachers for six months. For a British fellow whose main language is French, and has learned Thai and Spanish beforehand, learning the language wasn’t easy.
“Tagalog is a beautiful language, so I would say it is napakaganda (very beautiful). I think it’s a challenging language to learn, so for a student of Tagalog like myself you have to work hard to master it. I am some distance away from that point. I often say that as a language, I think napakahirap na
ito para sa akin (this is very difficult for me). But you know, when you’re in that sort of situation, you have to stick at it, you have to learn, you have to practice. It’s difficult but samakatuwid, kailangan akong
mag-practice araw-araw (hence, I need to practice every day),” Pruce explains.
The Ambassador is currently going through three levels of Filipino exams. He’s hurdled levels A (basic) and B (conversational) and is now getting ready for level C next spring, which involves using the language in the context of professional work.
“I’m very pleased to be doing this interview in English, but maybe next year, we’ll try to do this in Tagalog,” Pruce said, chuckling at the idea of hopefully passing Level C.
Nevertheless, his familiarity of the Filipino language has given him a lot of fans who inspire him to try harder in learning the language. One particular fan mail he shared was sent by a sixth-grade teacher from The Learning Tree Child Growth Center in Quezon City—a set of letters in Tagalog written by her sixth-grade students greeting and congratulating Pruce for his appointment as Ambassador and encouraging him to learn the language.
“I’m really touched and it’s a lovely thing they’ve done. I haven’t yet replied to them because I only just got the letters, but there’s lots of homework in here for me to understand the letters, I’ll also drop a line back to them and hopefully come and see them at some point,” Pruce said.
He added: “I’m finding even my very modest attempts at speaking the language are just helping me connect with people, and if it helps you connect then you can start to understand and you can then start to work out how you can strengthen the relationship between the two countries and find areas where we can work collaboratively in the future.”
And indeed, his basic understanding of the language has allowed him to have a basic familiarity of the people and the culture of the Philippines when he experienced it firsthand in the weeks after he arrived here.
He shared how, in the week following his arrival in Manila, he visited Tondo in the aftermath of a huge fire which left families homeless. It’s an area which the embassy has supported for some years through various British charities and a local church group, Kalayaan Community Ministries. He and his staff at the embassy led the distribution of food and other aid to the affected families.
“I was very keen to visit Tondo. I was able to meet the coordinators of the charitable foundation there, meet the people who live there and get a sense of the experience of living there, see the sights of the fire. I was very struck by the generosity of everyone I met there, they welcomed me into their homes, they were fantastically friendly. And I was inspired by the determination of the people who are working there to provide opportunities in terms of education, health care, providing people with choices for their futures,” Pruce explained.
He also had a chance to taste the country’s most ubiquitous brand, Jollibee during a visit to the fast-food company’s 1000th branch in Taguig City. He tried the famous Chickenjoy, which he said is “very, very masarap (delicious).” He also had the chance to visit Bataan and Clark, seeing the different British companies and their investments that brought employment and economic growth to the local communities. He also expressed his admiration for The X
Factor UK contestant Alisah Bonaobra, whose journey he’s been following since he arrived in the country.
In the other direction, Pruce is surprised by the popularity of British brands in the country—all of which are good signs of the strong and vibrant relations between the Philippines and UK.
“Just take a look around the malls here, you’ll see Marks and Spencer, Hackett, Jo Malone and all of the fantastic British brands who are present here and having dynamic growth in their business,” Pruce remarked. He also noted the Filipinos’ affinity for British pop music, with bands ranging from The Beatles to the Spice Girls up to contemporary acts like Ed Sheeran and Adele having a huge following.
He also touted the fact that around 200,000 Filipinos currently live and work in the UK—some 14,000 of which are currently providing quality and
professional health care to British citizens. Likewise, he noted the 17,000 British citizens that currently live and work in the Philippines, as well as the 200,000 British tourists that come to the country every year.
He expressed his gratitude for the unparalleled contribution that Filipinos have made in British society and commended the involvement of his fellow British in the growth and development of the Philippines, both of which spell a positive future in the relations of the two countries.
“There’s people-to-people connection, which I think, also speak of the commonness of culture, commonness of interests, and our spirit of being sort of outward looking nations that engage with the wider world. I think that’s in our DNA probably. I’m still very early in the job so I’m still working out my plans but from what I’ve seen around [our] mutual interest, I hope there is more that we can do to foster those connections,” Pruce said.
“And I am thrilled and excited to be here and I look forward to a very enjoyable and very exciting four years,” he added.