POSIX seteuid and similar

Hi, I am trying to create a small php program where I can control users processes. As far as I see I require Apache to run as root in order to do this (Note: I wish to access it via a webpage run through a browser). At the moment all pages are executed as user 'apache' (UID #48 in this case). Other than giving apache root access which i hear is a very bad thing to do, what other ways can i use the posix_seteuid() functions and the like. Any help at all will be really appreciated. Thanks, Dave