Black Eyed Peas' Manila concert to raise funds for landslide victims

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Black Eyed Peas planned a concert in the Philippines Thursday to raise funds for victims of the February landslide that left more than 1,000 people dead, the band's Filipino-American rapper said. Allen Pineda - known as Apl.de.ap. - promised a "very energetic" performance in Manila for Filipino fans as part of the American hip-hop band's Monkey Business World Tour.

"We've always had a good welcome here in the Philippines," Pineda, who is of Filipino-African-American descent, told The Philippine Daily Inquirer. "It feels good to perform in front of an audience that embraces us so strongly."

He said the proceeds from the concert will go to victims of the Feb. 17 landslide that buried the entire Guinsaugon village in the central Philippines in one of the country's worst natural disasters.

Arriving from a concert in neighbouring Taiwan, Pineda wore a shiny belt buckle adorned with a Philippine flag, and spoke in the Tagalog language to the delight of local fans, the Inquirer reported.

© The Canadian Press, 2006