Black Eyed Peas band singer attends slain brother's wake

 ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Filipino-American international singer apl.de.ap of the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas arrived here virtually unnoticed yesterday morning on board a private jet from the US to attend the wake of his half-brother who was shot dead here last Feb. 3.

Apl.de.ap, Allan Pineda in real life, flew in on a Vista jet on a “private executive flight,” according to Herminio Manalo, chief of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.

He said Pineda was slated to fly back to the US on the same aircraft last night.

Reporters were refused an interview with Pineda at his family residence in Barangay Sapang Bato where he attended the wake of his half brother Joven Deala.

Chief Inspector Wilfreco Paolo, head of Task Force Joven created by the Angeles police to investigate Deala’s killing, told The STAR he was surprised by Pineda’s unannounced arrival.

“There was an initial agreement between the police and his representatives for notification about his arrival so that we can provide him with security,” he said.

Paolo said he was informed by Pineda’s relatives that the singer’s manager had talked him out of coming to the Philippines because of Black Eyed Peas’ singing commitments in the US.

Last Feb. 5, two days after Deala was shot dead by still unidentified suspects, Black Eyed Peas held a concert to honor Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his support to the Black Eyed Peas Peapod Foundation. The foundation was established by the group’s members as a charitable service fund administered by the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

Deala was shot in a Pineda-owned Fortuner van at about 1 a.m. in Barangay Ninoy Aquino here last Feb. 3. He was in the company of his alleged girlfriend Ellaine Torres whose description of one of two witnesses enabled the police to come out with a sketch.

Paolo said that apart from the sketch of the suspect, police still have no clues on the identity of suspects or the motive for the shooting.

“Only Ellaine was witness to the crime. There seemed to be no one else who saw the shooting, as people usually are already asleep at 1 a.m.,” he noted.

Earlier, Angeles police chief Senior Superintendent Pierre Bucsit said probers were looking into a “love angle” in the killing amid reports that Ellaine had other suitors and was separated from her husband.