Are the Black Eyed Peas breaking up?

Column: Funfare
Author: Ricardo F. Lo

First, a revelation.

Have you ever wondered why Allan Pineda of the Black Eyed Peas is also known as apl. de. ap?

"It's my initials," smiled Allan. "apl for Allan Pineda Lindo and ap for Angeles, Pampanga. "

Without many people noticing, in the past eight years Allan has actually been coming and going, shuttling between L. A. (where he lives with his adoptive family) and the Philippines (where his biological parents and his relatives live), spending most of his Christmases here. His homecoming started being played up only four years ago when he came with the Black Eyed Peas for a concert, followed by another one in 2006.

This time around, as reported by The STAR Entertainment editorial assistant Jerry Donato in a "scoop" the other day, Allan is back again by his lonesome purposely to receive a citation from the MYX Music Awards last Wednesday night (to be aired on Sunday, March 30 on Studio 23 and MYX 24/7) and to present the Favorite Music Video of the Year award.

His solo flight has made a lot of people (this one included) wonder if the Black Eyed Peas are breaking up or if Allan has decided to split from the group and embark on a solo career.

That was the first question I asked Allan during a follow-up interview also last Wednesday, both for Funfare and The Ricky Lo Exclusives (airing on Tuesday, 8:30 to 9:30 p. m. on Q-11), at the Astoria Plaza (Full-Serviced Residential Suites, Ortigas Center, Pasig City, tel. no. 632-1111 local 8888).

"Oh no, the Black Eyed Peas is intact, we are not breaking up," said Allan who is smaller in person (approximately 5'4" tall) and who speaks fluent Tagalog (because he left his native Pampanga when he was 14). "I want to reconnect with the Filipino community because I've been working on my solo album and I kind of want the people to know about it. The Black Eyed Peas are very much together but at the moment we are doing individual projects to kinda express our individuality. We support each other. "

The album, which is Allan's first project under his own label, Jeepney Music, will be released before the year is over. It carries two songs about the Philippines, Island (sung in English) and Bayani (in Tagalog sans English accent). Fellow BEP member will. i. am is also featured on it. Island talks about the beauty of the Philippines (paging DOT chief Ace Durano; the song is a perfect come-on pitch for Filipino residents abroad as well as foreigners who could be lured to include the Philippines in their itinerary) and Bayani is a tribute to Filipino heroes.

"Jeepney is the perfect name for my label because it's music that travels," explained Allan who was last seen among fellow Filipino awardees at the Visionary Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood two weeks ago.

The good thing about Allan is that he hasn't forgotten his Filipino-ness. Unlike some Asian (specifically Filipino) artists in the US, who pass themselves off as Latin or hold back on their race, Allan proclaims his being "proud to be Pinoy" every chance he gets.

"Filipino is my culture, the Philippines is where I came from and, you know, I'm proud to represent who I am. I was fortunate enough to compose a Tagalog song for a Black Eyed Peas record and I would perform that song anywhere in the world the group performs in. Whatever culture they are -- black, white or whatever -- people embrace that song.

"Everytime I'm here, I always go to Pampanga. I crave for Filipino food, especially Kapampangan food. In the US, you know, I have to pick my food and choose where I eat. Here, I can eat anywhere because I like all the food. Masarap ang pagkain dito. If my schedule permits, I want to go to Boracay. I've been hearing a lot about Boracay. Everybody has been telling me, 'Oh, Boracay is the place to go!,' so I'm curious. I haven't been there. "

Told that the girls would love to have him around, basking in the sun, Allan smiled.

"I am single at the moment," he said.

As clincher for this interview, I asked Allan to sing a few lines from Island and Bayani, and he obliged with pleasure.

From Island:. .. I come from an island, the land of survivors. We're living under bridges with nowhere to go. But when I close my eyes, I see paradise. And if you close your eyes, you will see paradise. I wanna take you there. ..

From Bayani (rap style):. .. Ito'y para sa mga bayani ng bayan, ibinigay ang buhay para sa kalayaan ng bayan kong Pilipinas. Gusto kong pasalamatan ang mga dakila katulad nina Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Gregorio del Pilar. Hindi makakalimutan ang mga ginawa. ..

Briefly noted

• Delfin Lee, the generous real-estate magnate who donates house-and-lot packages to lucky Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) winners and Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) scholars, recently launched Xevera, a high-class subdivision in Bacolor, Pampanga, which boasts of such amenities as a school, clubhouse, church, commercial area, town hall, wet-and-dry market and an Olympic-size swimming pool. In partnership with the E-Media (Education thru Multi Media) program of ABS-CBN Foundation, Xevera has its own school within the plaza, which provides quality education for children. A free concert was held during the launch, featuring Sarah Geronimo, John Lloyd Cruz, Toni Gonzaga, Mariel Rodriguez, Pooh, Kitty Girls, PDA scholars (Yeng Constantino, Ronnie Liang and Jay-R Siaboc), PBB housemates (Rico Barrera, Nene Tamayo, Bob dela Cruz and Cassandra Ponti) and The Coverboys (Jake Cuenca, Rafael Rosell, Victor Basa and John James Uy).

• From Diether Ocampo: I would like to share with you the success of our (K. I. D. S. Foundation) latest event, which was a charity dinner in conjunction with the feeding program that we launched in October last year called r. e. d. under nutrition (which simply means "reduce, eliminate and decrease" under nutrition). We were encouraged by the success of our feeding program in one of the poorest barangays in Novaliches, Quezon City, so the charity dinner was put to sustain this wonderful program that will be extended to its second phase to maximize the potential of the program.

We are moving to the next barangay, and we identified one in Camarines Sur having a big number of under-nourished children that would benefit from our r. e. d. under nutrition program. We realized that it is imperative to for us to give proper nourishment to impoverished kids ages two to five because this is the age bracket where 70 percent of physical development and 90 percent of the brain development occur.

I hope this will enlighten most parents. We hope to cover more barangays to reduce, eliminate and decrease under nutrition.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar. net. ph or at entphilstar@yahoo. com)

Source: The Philippine Star