Miss Universe Spain wins netizens’ hearts with fluency in Filipino

Miss Universe Spain 2022 Alicia Faubel showcased her fluency in Filipino while visiting the Philippines.

Faubel, 25, shared a video on Instagram on Tuesday of herself interacting with the locals. In the clip, she can be seen treating a boy to tusok-tusok, a type of street food that is eaten with a stick.

During their pedicab ride, Faubel learns that the 11-year-old boy’s name is Patrick. She also asks him who his favorite Miss Universe contestant is. “You,” he replies in Filipino.

“Kuya Patrick is so nice and sweet,” Faubel wrote in her post’s caption in Filipino, adding that next time they will make a mukbang video with tokneneng, a type of Filipino street food that consists of hard-boiled eggs fried with bright orange batter.

Faubel recently returned to the Philippines after being away for two years to attend BYS Fashion Week, where Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi was also present. The event, BYS Cosmetics’ first-ever fashion week in the Philippines, was held from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8.

“Finally after two years of waiting I am back to the Philippines,” Faubel wrote in a recent Instagram post. “Manila was home for me for almost 3 years and even though I don’t have Filipino blood my heart has always been part of the Philippines, and once again it doesn’t fail to make me feel like it’s my own home.”

Faubel had previously lived in the Philippines for three years to study acting and work as a model. She has notably appeared on the August 2015 cover of GADGETS Magazine, as well as the 2015 Steven Seagal action movie “Captain Commander” as Alicia DiSanto.

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Though she appears to be fluent in Filipino in her video, the Miss Universe candidate admitted in a MISSUUPDATES Instagram Stories Take Over that she is no longer as fluent as she once was while she still lived in the Philippines.

Born on Jan. 9, 1997, in Alicante, Spain, Faubel was crowned Miss Universe Spain 2022 at the Los Olivos Beach Resort in Tenerife, Spain, on Sept. 10. She will represent Spain at the Miss Universe 2022 pageant, which will be held in New Orleans on Jan. 14, 2023.

Featured Image via @alicia.faubel

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