Kabayang Allan Pineda Lindo Jr.

I am a fan of Black Eyed Peas. I love their musical style. When I heard their song for the first time some years back, I was instantly magnetized. And I am fond of Fergie, too. But I was drawn more to them upon learning about Allan Pineda Lindo, Jr., more known as apl.de.ap. I admire him as a Filipino artist and I look up to him. Amid his success in the international scene, he returns to the Philippines to help improve the lives of Filipinos. He is a kababayan that we can truly be proud of.

Apl made several efforts to empower Filipinos. He formed the apl.de.ap foundation which aims to assist communities and children in the Philippines and throughout Asia. The foundation has recently collaborated with the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) for "We Can Be Anything," an advocacy which aims to support private sector efforts to build public school classrooms and other learning centers all over the Philippines. And prior to this, Apl has also formed "Jeepney Music," a music company that aims to open up to opportunities in the international scene for the Filipino talents.

Apl.de.ap is a true "rags-to-riches" story. He never met his African-American birth father, an airman stationed at Clark Air Base in Pampanga, who left the family soon after his birth. Life was difficult for him, his mother and his six younger siblings. So even as a child, Apl would help the family by farming sweet potatoes, corn, sugar cane, and rice. He would also take an hour-long jeepney trip to and from school.

Apl was able to go to school through the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, an organization that supports young abandoned or orphaned Amerasian children. The same organization introduced him to Joe Ben Hudgens who sponsored his education. At age 14, Hudgens adopted him and brought him to the United States where he finished school. In 1988, he met William Adams (will.i.am). The two of them formed groups, until they formed BEP along with the two other members, Fergie (Stacy Ann Ferguson) and Taboo (Jaime Luis Gomez). And the rest is history =)