MANILA - Singer Apl.de.ap of the Grammy Award-winning band "Black Eyed Peas" is now in Manila to be part of MTV Emerge.

MTV Emerge is a platform for the country's unsigned music talents to showcase their work.

It will also give the talents the opportunity to win a one-year recording contract with Jeepney Music plus digital distribution of their original record in local and international markets.

Apl.de.Ap is now in the country and gearing up for the first installment of MTV Emerge at SM Mall of Asia's Music Hall at 4 p.m.

Pineda was also in the country last October when he did a benefit concert at the Skydome in SM North Edsa.

He organized the concert to help thousands of flood victims affected by storms Ondoy and Pepeng. He also pledged immediate assistance to the thousands of Filipinos displaced by tropical storm Ondoy (international codename Ketsana).

Apl.de.ap, or Allan Pineda Lindo, was only 11 years old when he flew to the United States under a sponsorship by the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, an organization dedicated to the well-being of Amerasian children.

He was officially adopted by an American family at the age of 14.

Apl.de.ap is now a leading hip-hop musician and record producer in the US. He set up his own record label, Jeepney Music, to help fellow Filipino artists make it in the international music scene.