As part of the mod-php package a copy of php compiled for cgi use should also be provided. There are many occasions when you want cgi scripts to be run as someone else other than the apache or nobody user for security reasons. A stand alone cgi version of php is required. (mod_php cannot su to another user as it IS the apache process)
I vote for php standalone iterpretter too. There should be SuExec mechanism enabled in Apache too to take benefit from this package.
suexec has been added to apache. We simply don't have room (believe it!) on the CD to add another PHP binary. This one you'll have to build yourself. 90+% of php users don't mind.
This will be fixed in the next release.