Police admit apl.de.ap half-brother's slay still unsolved

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Allan Pineda, alias apl.de.ap. of the three-time Grammy Award winner Black Eyed Peas, said the local police “did a great job” in the case of his 21-year-old half-brother Joven Pineda Deala who was gunned down in February 2009.

The case though remains unsolved with no suspect identified and arrested.

“I don’t think the suspect in the case was established,” said Senior Superintendent Danny Bautista, city police chief, who was not yet appointed to the post when the killing happened.

“A case is considered solved once the suspect is jailed,” Bautista said.

Pineda was here the other day to distribute fruits and canned goods to children in the Madapdap resettlement for Mt. Pinatubo eruption victims, under the auspices of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Philippines headed by philanthropist Rosalind Wee.

Putting his right hand on his chest, Pineda said the memory of his slain brother “will remain in my heart forever.”

Deala was in a sports utility vehicle owned by Pineda, together with his girlfriend, when the gunman approached and shot him in the head at around 1 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2009 in Barangay Ninoy Aquino here.

Deala was among Pineda’s six half-siblings. Pineda and his mother Cristina were abandoned by his American father when he was still a toddler.

Pineda’s mother later married a Filipino surnamed Lindo which Pineda also uses. The Lindo family lives in Barangay Sapang Bato here where the rapper will spend Christmas.

Some 20 years ago, Pineda went to the United States with the help of the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, and later became known as a rapper of the Black Eyed Peas.