MANILA, November 13, 2009 (AFP) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo's preferred successor on Friday announced a film and TV star as his running mate for next year's presidential elections in a bid to boost his struggling campaign.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro paraded actor and television game show host Edu Manzano, 54, as his vice presidential candidate at a news conference here.

"I need a running mate who will be able to influence the way our people think," said Teodoro after the pair engaged in awkward fist bumps for the cameras.

"He would be a big influence, a motivating tool to launch our platform." Teodoro, 45, is the presidential candidate for the ruling Lakas-Kampi CMD but he is lagging badly in the polls with just a four percent share of the projected vote, according to the latest surveys.

Senator Benigno Aquino, son of the late democracy icon Corazon Aquino, is the clear favourite with 60 percent support.

Filipinos have had a penchant for electing celebrities to high office.

Most famously, B-grade movie actor Joseph Estrada became president in 1998, before losing power in a bloodless coup three years later amid allegations of massive graft.

Estrada, who was jailed for life for corruption but later pardoned by Arroyo, is seeking to run again for president next year.

His actor son Jose Estrada, is also a senator, while incumbent vice president Noli de Castro rose to prominence as a television presenter.

Arroyo, who cannot run for re-election, narrowly defeated the late Philippine movie king Fernando Poe in the 2004 election.

Born in the United States to Filipino parents, Manzano joined the US military at 17, serving for four years, before moving to the Philippines to pursue a full-time career in the local movie industry.

He has a child but is no longer with former movie queen-turned-provincial governor Vilma Santos, whom the ruling party had also briefly considered for the vice presidential post.

Manzano is currently dating a television presenter at the country's largest television network, and hosts a game show programme at the same station.