MANILA, Philippines – The chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority already knows what to do with the prize money if he wins the top award for the reality TV contest “Celebrity Duets.”

“I’m going to use the P1 million to fund my candidacy for president in 2010,” Bayani Fernando said in a press conference Tuesday.

Fernando was only kidding, of course, judging by his twinkling eyes.

But to those who’ve heard him talk about his presidential aspirations, Fernando’s “joke” was no laughing matter.

The MMDA chair is competing in the second season of GMA 7’s reality TV contest pairing famous personalities who are nonprofessional singers with different singers every week.

Last Saturday, the show’s initial telecast, Fernando performed “Macho Gwapito” with singer Renz Verano, an allusion to his vision of “Metro Gwapo” or a cleaner, sleeker Metro Manila by 2010.

Fernando, who has performed as one of “Manila’s Three Tenors” with fellow public officials, former Sen. Joey Lina and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, said his stint on “Duets” was actually a “big risk.”

“There are no second takes. So you have to do your best,” he told reporters. Then, he proceeded to ask the reporters to vote for him by text.

“There are several members of my family, anyway, so I’m sure I can amass plenty of votes,” he said. Later, Fernando added with a smile: “I might have to resort to vote buying.”

Winners on the show are determined by a panel of judges and by the number of votes they receive through text messages sent in by supporters.

Fernando shrugged off criticism that his participation in the TV show, and its consequent media exposure, was an early form of campaigning for his presidential bid.

“This has nothing to do with politics. There’s nothing political about this,” said the MMDA chair whose party, Lakas, had not yet formally announced an official standard bearer for the 2010 polls.

But even before the show was aired, Fernando’s participation on “Duets” already drew flak from a group of militants, who called him a modern day “Hitler” and an administration puppet – in the same breath.

“It is not only done in bad taste. This modern day Hitler and Rated-A puppet of the ruling political syndicate in Malacañang joined the singing reality show for celebrities in the name of his cruel intentions and obsession for power,” said Pamalakaya, an alliance of progressive fisher folk.

“This is really insulting to the collective intelligence of the Filipino people and to the tens of thousands of urban poor and struggling vendors in Metro Manila who suffered so much in the brutal hands of the MMDA chief and his principal benefactor in Malacañang,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said.

The MMDA chair, however, said all his actions were only for the betterment of the metropolis.