MANILA, Philippines ? In the end, the battle is not in the realm of music, but in the world of text votes.

The last three contestants on the GMA 7 reality show ?Celebrity Duets??Jomari Yllana, Joel Cruz and Akihiro Sato?are pulling out all the stops, as the final showdown on Saturday draws near.

When Inquirer Entertainment caught up with actor Yllana, he was in the middle of a motorcade in Quezon City that started at 9 a.m. and ended 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

?I also visited two QC schools, Juan Sumulong and Doña Josefa, today,? Yllana said.

Cruz, who?s the local distributor of Aficionado scents, also led a motorcade in Bataan. He admitted that he also recruited his sales team, including their relatives and neighbors, in the text campaign.

?Customers who vote for me can receive free Aficionado products,? Cruz said.

Unlike Yllana and Sato who have regular TV shows, Cruz had to work double time for his visibility. ?I only had one billboard along Edsa, but we put up over 10,000 tarpaulins nationwide.?

No overt campaigning

Sato, however, shuns overt campaigning. ?I?m not a politician. That?s not my personality,? he explained.

Still, he had to play the game and recently had meet-and-greet sessions with fans in shows held in Pampanga and Metro Manila.

A Brazilian-Japanese model, Sato hired a Filipino language tutor and vocal coach. ?I have voice classes twice a week. This is the biggest challenge I ever faced in my life,? he quipped.

Although he didn?t speak a word of Filipino prior to the contest, he managed to croon ?Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang?? and mumbled and mamboed his way through ?Di Bale Na Lang? on the show.

Sato has started appearing in mall and provincial shows. ?I?ve become more confident because of this show,? he said.

Cruz received a lot of flak for belting ?I Will Survive? in basso profundo. ?I was nervous then. As the show progressed, I let loose and learned to have fun.?

?I learned a lot,? Cruz added. ?First of all, you must know your pitch.?

Turning pro?

Yllana compared his ?Duets? experience to an ongoing workshop. ?It?s like I went back to my grade school days with the Ateneo Children?s Theater. At 33 years old, I had to relearn the basics of performing.?

Now an impresario (he co-produced the recent concert of David Cook and David Archuleta), Yllana doesn?t see himself turning pro anytime soon.

?No, I will never produce a concert with me as star. I?m not a performer,? Yllana said.

He had the most fun singing ?Ang Kawawang Cowboy? with Marquez, a ?Duets? graduate himself, on the show.

All three are playing for pet charities.

Should they win, Sato will divide the P1-million cash prize between Gawad Kalinga and his supporters/fans; Yllana will turn it over completely to Bishop Soc Villegas? Saint John the Evangelist Parish Church in Dagupan; Cruz will donate it to Hospicio de San Jose, Tahanang Walang Hagdan, PGH Pediatric Ward, Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, Kids Foundation and Missionaries of Charity, among others.