Apl.de.ap is ‘kuya’ to Amerasians


By Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk
Last updated 07:27pm (Mla time) 06/02/2007


ANGELES CITY -- Allan Pineda -- more popularly known as Apl.de.ap of the three-time Grammy Award-winning quartet Black Eyed Peas -- is now kuya (elder brother) to Filipino Amerasians.

"Samasan yu ing pamag-aral yu (You should do well in your studies)," Pineda said in Kapampangan, which he spoke fluently as though he had not been away for 18 years.

"Yes, Kuya Allan! We love you, Kuya Allan!" the 50 or so young Amerasians, aged five to 20, chorused back at the end of his speech during a forum here on Friday.

In their first encounter at the auditorium of the Angeles University Foundation here on Friday, the children asked Pineda to sing, dance, and share life lessons he gathered as he struggled to attain fame.

With no air of celebrity and still shaking off the jet lag from Thursday's plane trip from Los Angeles, Pineda, 32, gave in to their requests. He also accommodated children who wanted to be photographed with him.

Dressed in a black suit and sneakers, Pineda made it known he remained a Filipino at heart. He displayed a small metal pin of the Philippine flag on his left collar.

He also committed to do two more tasks: Hold a benefit concert, possibly in December this year after the Black Eyed Peas' "Black Blue & You World Tour" of 13 countries, and work as endorser for the educational scholarship program of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Philippines (PSBP) among Filipino-Americans in the United States.

All these he would do, he told the Inquirer, through the PeaPod Foundation, the charity arm of the Black Eyed Peas.

He earlier did benefit concerts for landslide victims in Leyte and tsunami victims in Indonesia.

The ties of Pineda with PSBP go way, way back.

Pineda's Filipino mother, Cristina, 52, said in the forum that PSBP found her son a "sponsor" in the person of California-based lawyer Joe Ben Hedgens when he was two-and-half-years old.

In 1989, when Pineda was 14 years old, Hedgens took him to Los Angeles and supported his studies there, she said.

"It is amazing to be back… I owe majority of that success to the Pearl S. Buck Foundation," Pineda told his audience.

He greeted them with "Mayap a bengi kikuyu (Good evening to you all)" that, matched with a wide smile, thawed the somewhat edgy audience who came face-to-face with an international music celebrity.

The plight of Amerasians, his mother said, was close to Pineda's heart because like many of them, he never got to see his father, an American soldier. She said Pineda tried to survive the hard life by working early in life in Sapang Bato, a farming village just outside the iron fence of Clark Air Base, an American military base then.

Erlinda De Ungria-Tagle, PSBP executive director, said Pineda renewed ties with the foundation when one of their coordinators called him three months ago to ask him if he could help find ways to send more kids to school.

"He gave a casual 'yes' and we thought he was not so interested. So we did not take him seriously. Then he called us last month to say he was really coming over and we were shocked by his sense of generosity," Tagle told the Inquirer.

"Without Pearl S. Buck, my parents, and adopted parents, I would not have the opportunities to go up in life," Pineda said.

In the program, Dr. Leticia Yap, PSBP local board member, called Pineda a "very good model" and threw the Amerasians a challenge.

"Kung kaya ni Allan ay kaya mo rin (If Allan made it, you too can make it)," Yap said.

Regina Diaz, a black Amerasian, dedicated the song "I'll Be There" to Pineda, which made the singer teary eyed. Three groups took turns dancing.

Pineda said he would take them in as front acts for the benefit concert. He gave his share of the fun, singing parts of his group's chart-busting songs.

In the forum, he answered all sorts of questions.

To Eugene Nacine's query on why Black Eyed Peas took such name, Pineda said: "Because it is food for the soul."

In answer to Diaz's question, he said the group started when he and William James Adams Jr. (or Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas) "started dancing together and became best friends and hit it big in 1995."

How he got to the US, he said, was a result of constant communication with Hedgens.

Pineda's advice went: "Write your sponsor. Tell them what's happening to you. Study hard. Be enthusiastic."

Replying to Christopher Villaruz, Pineda said he overcame the difficulties by "surrounding myself with good friends, staying close to family, studying hard, praying a lot."

"I did not take ‘no’ for an answer," Pineda said.

Success, according to him, "took a lot of hard work."

"We practiced every day, bonded by friendship and love for music. We keep performing in colleges, doing also benefit concerts," he said.

Pineda promised to find ways to support his fellow Amerasians.

"I am finding out ways how to support my Amerasian brothers and sisters. Don't be ashamed to ask how I could help. I will be one of your endorsers," he said, drawing the loudest applause that night.

He considers the Philippines his home because the Kapampangan are the "best cooks," Christmas in the country is great, and it is where his family is.

His being an Amerasian, he said, "did not matter to me."

"All I know is that I am a Filipino. And I live Filipino values. And they received me for who I am," Pineda said.

Cristina said her son, the eldest in a brood of seven (six children by her second husband), endured discrimination as he was growing up.

"When he was small our neighbors called him 'N*gga.' I advised him to ignore the teasing. 'You shouldn't be ashamed. You're also a person like them,'" Cristina recalled telling her son.

She raised him by planting gabi (yam) and vegetables, selling native snacks, and tending a small grocery store. Pineda's grandmother, Virginia, helped raise him.

Starting at five years old, Pineda helped pack yams in sacks or repacked charcoal in small plastic bags and delivered these to his mother's suki (loyal customers) at the Pampanga market in Angeles City.

After classes and on weekends, Pineda sold suman and palitaw (rice cakes) in the village. Cristina gave him P2 for every P20 of sales.

Hedgens sent Pineda money through a PSBP-managed savings account so he could stay in school. The money went to books, uniforms, school projects, and his daily allowance. Pineda received gifts from Hedgens every Christmas.

He said he regards Hedgens like his true father. Hedgens never fails to invite him to family occasions, he said.

The search for his biological father has been futile, though. But Cristina said her son has never been resentful about being abandoned.

"He's kind," she said.

Tagle said Pineda picked up the cause of Amerasians as the PBSP celebrates its 39th year.

"He's like coming full circle. He's been helped and he's been helping others," she said.

What is "amazing" in Pineda, Tagle said, is despite the distance, he never ceased ties with his mother and relatives in the Philippines.



Copyright 2007 Central Luzon Desk. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/brea...rticle_id=69181

hes the man yo!!!!

he using his celeb statue in postive way!!

props to kabayan Apl.de.Ap galing!

Im down with thiz man...goodluck on his upcoming album
N yah sana ung ibang amerasian dyan eh iangat naman ang mga asians in a positive way

gotta luv apl the man!

He's cool...I kind of was dissapointed he included Jasmine Trias in his Bebot video...

What's with Jasmine Trias?