yes php is needed , some tools need php5 and its dependencies i.e tools that use server side Manipulation
AND apart from the obVIous AS ZEROF just pointed out i.e apache
dpkg -S /bin/apache2
maybe he will understand ZEROF better if he uses the below somethings have to be spelled out for some people
dpkg -S apache2 | grep "php5/apache" | cut -d: -f2
it was a pretty stupid question !! but that happens alot around here { people asking very silly questions without thinking ! }
Manipulation I SAID some not all, Dont post that X tools dont use it 
i.e i dont want examples of ones that dont !!!!
the reason it may show up is because its what is known as orphaned
{ orphaned : its on its own nothing supporting it . i.e its left to its own devices
} it i.e not fully installed
this also depends on the packages and the way there installed on the system .. if the package is sitting out there on its out waving a white flag you can bet deborphan is coming looking for its ass !!!!
Example : you may come across you a dependency BEFORE that you needed and you installed it , then you do
sudo apt-get -y purge `deborphan`
you will see that package you just installed deborphan is now asking do you want it removed ?
*NOTE may i.e not all the time this is an EXAMPLE !!!
i.e a trailing package nothing tied to it
Now if you do
sudo apt-get install name-of-that-package-dev
then do apt-get -y purge `deborphan` AGAIN you will see deborphan will not show it anymore
please look at deborphan --help & man deborphan there is many ways to check using the --guess , --exclude switched etc etc
you dont have to install the full package you can use the exclude switch but its all depends on what your installing !!
sudo apt-get -y install deboprhan > /dev/null 2>&1
sudo apt-get -y install php5 php5-cli php5-dev > /dev/null 2>&1
sudo apt-get -y purge `deborphan` > /dev/null 2>&1
