"With education, you can be anything. It's a way out of poverty. Because of it, I was given an opportunity to be a member of the Black Eyed Peas and now that I have the resources,
I could give back."
When American hip hop group "The Black Eyed Peas" broke into the music scene with its first major hit "Where Is The love" in 2003, most Filipinos were unaware that one of the four members of the group is a Filipino-American. Known by many as apl.de.ap, he is now considered as one of the few successful Filipinos who made it big in the American music industry.
But before gaining all that fame and fortune, Allan Pineda Lindo, Jr. (his real name), was actually one of those poor boys in Sapangbato, Angeles City who had less in life but was happy with his family. Born to a Filipina mother and African-American father, he and his six other siblings grew up planting corn and sweet potatoes, and making charcoal. The farm was not just his source of livelihood, but also his playground where he rode carabaos and ran freely under the rain.
But because of his Nystagmus, a condition that causes involuntary eye movement that may result to limited vision, his mom applied the then 11-year-old Allan to the Pearl S. Buck Foundation so he could be treated in the US and continue his education at the Holy Angel University (HAU), where he studied until third year high school. The Foundation provides scholarships and finds healthier living environments for abandoned or orphaned Amerasian children like him. Three years later, his sponsor American Joe Ben Hudgens adopted him.
Moving to the States was difficult at first but Allan learned how to deal with homesickness by making friends. Later, he met his best friend, William Adams or will.i.am and that's when they started to make beautiful music. Eventually, they formed the now famous "The Black Eyed Peas" together with Dante Santiago and Fergie. The group released songs that topped the charts in the US and around the world. Their most successful album "The E.N.D" sold more than 11 million copies worldwide. It included 2009 hits such as "Boom Boom Pow," "I Gotta Feeling," and "Imma Bee."
But even at the height of his career, the 38-year-old Allan never forgot his roots. In fact, his soft spot for his kababayans, particularly the deprived children in his hometown, led him to establish the apl.de.ap Foundation in 2011. The charitable institution is committed to improve the quality of life of children through education, technology and music. When he visited the country in 2011, Allan donated a music studio, computers, and books to his alma mater, Sapangbato National High School (SNHS) and Holy Angel University (HAU). He also opened an endowment fund which would send some of the top graduating students of SNHS to HAU.
Allan and his foundation have also partnered with several organizations that share his advocacy on education. One of these was his involvement in "We Can Be Anything," an education advocacy campaign in partnership with the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF). The campaign was for the benefit of the Bayanihang Pampaaralan initiative. The NCAF appointed him "special ambassador for education" of the iamninoy-iamcory Movement in February 2011.
Chasing the 2012 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) awardee for an interview proved to be very difficult as it took us a couple of years of constantly reminding our contacts of our request. We talked to almost everyone that had a connection with him − his various endorsements and later on from the network where his show "The Voice of the Philippines," is being aired, hoping to one day sit down with him. And just when we thought that we had exhausted all means to reach him, then came the big opportunity. Little did we know that it will be through one of the projects of his foundation that we will finally be able to corner the elusive Fil-Am rapper for what turned out to be our shortest "60 Minutes" interview.
And so, during the launch of the apl.de.ap Foundation's "Macaroons for a Cause," a fundraising campaign in partnership with local bakeshop Red Ribbon and Franklin Baker, we didn't only get the chance to talk to him but were also treated to a mini concert. While we didn't get the 15 minutes we were promised for that long-awaited interview, a short talk with him was enough to see how inspiring the man is, through his passion to help the Filipino children.
The Macaroons for a Cause aims to raise money to help build his foundation's first school in Zamboanga. For every pack sold of the bakeshop's new product at P50.00, P7.00 will go directly to the foundation. The goal is to sell 4.2 million packs to be able to construct the school.
"In our foundation, our goal is to help improve the quality of education through access. In this case, it's building a school. We were always thinking of the sustainability of our projects and we do this by meeting a lot of people who could help us," says Allan who is also one of the country's Peace Ambassadors, a designation appointed by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
Once completed, the school is expected to benefit more than 600 students in the conflict-affected area in Mindanao.
In this short but sweet 60 Minutes interview, we get starstuck, inspired, and humbled by the man who amid his success and global stature, is always more than willing to give back to his home country and to his kababayans. Like what education and music did to his life, apl hopes to give young Filipinos the chance to live their dreams, and be anything that they can be.