THERE'S no business like show business and no people like show people - not as far as the 38 million voters in the Philippines are concerned anyway.
Actors and sports heroes are running in battalions for tomorrow's election, and many are being given a good chance in an electorate where two-thirds of the voters are under 30, and most of them are women.
What has been a lacklustre and routine campaign - by Philippine standards, anyway - is brightened by the show business community.
For instance, in Quezon City, a congressional candidate, comedian Ju Urbano, hit the white summer heat of the campaign trail dressed in perma-frost Mongolian attire to try to unseat his rival, skinflick actor Dennis Roldan.
Urbano, who anchors the popular television programme Mongolian Barbecue, thought this was the catchiest way to capture the voters' hearts.
In politically explosive Nueva Ecija, the province where gubernatorial bet Honorato Perez was gunned down by political rivals, actor Robin Padilla is running for vice governor, surrounded by moonlighting bodyguards from the Police Special Action Force.
