MANILA, Philippines?Here's one tack to get elected: sing and sound like a stand-up comedian.

Liberal Party senatorial candidate Martino D. Bautista is trying to get his message across by cracking jokes on stage and using his boyish looks and melodious voice to woo voters.

"I'm close to the bottom of the surveys but sometimes you just have give the others leeway before they see the most meteoric rise in Philippine elections," he told Inquirer editors and reporters in a deadpan voice on Thursday night.

He then claims he has a resemblance to actor Luis ?Lucky? Manzano, the son of actress and Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos.

?I always say Raph (Recto) is so nice because he includes me in his campaign materials,? Bautista said, pointing to Lucky?s picture in fans that Recto, another LP senatorial bet and Santos? husband, hands out in his campaign.

?You have to sex it up with your looks. I?m going to un-button my top button and I?ll win,? he adds in jest.

But it is not all for laughs. Bautista, a 47-year-old gastro-enterologist who worked in the United States, is using his own hard-earned personal wealth?he is worth more than P500 million?to run for the Senate.

And when ?Dr. Balikbayan? belts out his songs on the hustings, they?re not pop or campaign ditties. He goes on stage to sing the Catholic hymn ?Pananagutan? to remind Filipinos of the need for solidarity or ?Tie a Yellow Ribbon? to remember the sacrifices of Cory and Ninoy Aquino.

?I always ask them why the color yellow but most don?t remember.... This is a meaningful song because Ninoy stayed in exile (in Boston) for three years and the song says, `It?s been three long years. Do you still want me??? Bautista said.

The doctor, who worked for nearly 20 years in America, said he also knew the loneliness of trying to earn a living abroad. He went to the US after graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1989.

?I was a hard life. I worked from 5:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. It was like that for 15 years of my life,? he said.

Bautista first worked in a hospital in Brooklyn, New York, during the height of the AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) epidemic in America.

?Ninety-eight percent of my patients had full-blown AIDS. I had to take blood samples from AIDS patients. I had to take their sputum because no one else wanted to do it,? he said.

By the time he transferred to Oklahoma, Bautista said he also had to deal with racism because some white Americans did not want to be ?touched? by a ?colored? man like him.

?We did not have Skype then and so you can just imagine that Filipino worker who can call back home only every other four months,? Bautista said.

When he came back to the country, Bautista first joined the Catholic group ?Ang Kapatiran? to try to implement reforms. He later joined the LP because he said the ?symbolic protests? were not enough.

?The times for symbolic protest are over. They always say we need revolution but their stance on reproductive health is the most conservative stance,? Bautista said. ?That is not acceptable. The status quo is not acceptable.?

Bautista said he and his wife, a pulmonologist, practiced natural family planning but he said that couples should be allowed to choose what method of contraception they want to be responsible parents.

?We already have 750,000 abortions in our country ever year and we are a Catholic country. That is a bigger number per capita when compared to the US,? Bautista said.

?Conservative groups like Ang Kapatiran propose that we have business as usual. We say that we?re pro-life but they don?t see that the first Catholic social teaching calls for respect for life and human dignity,? he said.

?Is there human dignity in places like Maguindanao where getting pregnant is a life-threatening condition because the maternal mortality is too high? The point is respect each Filipino couple?s dignity to make the right choice after giving them every option,? he added.

Bautista said the government should allow the distribution of condoms to prevent an AIDS epidemic from exploding in these shores.

?A condom is still better than no condom. There?s no going around that. Whenever they say don?t use public funds for condoms, I?d reply, `If as a people, we are prepared to see Filipinos dying of AIDS in the sidewalk and we are not ready to bury their corpses using public funds, then okay let?s not use public funs for condoms,?? he said.

?Containing an epidemic is part of the treatment plan for an epidemic and part of that is prevention and or containment. An aids epidemic will bankrupt our country,? he added.

If elected senator, Bautista said he would move to cut the public works budget and divert these funds to double the salaries of government workers and invest in health care and education.

?One hundred Flipinos die from tuberculosis every day but does anybody care? That's why we need a non-violent revolutionary change,? he said.

Bautista said he will also try to impress upon the voters the idea that serving in public office is a ?sacrifice.? he said he himself, if elected, would not run for a second term.

?That's what we need to communicate to the people?that public service is a sacrifice. You don't make money while in public office,? he said.

Bautista said this was why he vehemently opposes the candidacy of billionaire and Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manuel Villar. He said he would apply for American citizenship if Villar wins.

?His net worth was P75.3 million in 1992 when he was a congressman in Las Pinas but Forbes Magazine estimated his net by November 2009 at P40 billion,? he said.

?As a congressman, as a speaker, as a senator, as a Senate president, his net worth went up. He should have divested himself from all his properties before he entered politics because it's a sacrifice,? Bautista said.

?I know some who cannot accept a Cabinet position because they can't live on p45,000 a month. It's a sacrifice,? he added.