PHP has advantages over JDBC in accessing a database.

1. PHP is designed for web applications. A datasource does not have to be configured with a database in an application server.

2. PHP is relatively simpler than JDBC.

3. PHP web applications are faster to develop than a J2EE application.

4. PHP has higher performance than JDBC.

For further reference:

http://www.zend.com/zend/art/php-over-java.php?article=php-over-java&kind=aphp&id=949&open=1&anc=0&view=1