Women issues hound Duterte, Trump but who cares?

"The greater the controversy, the more you need manners." Judith Martin

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- It's not only Rodrigo Duterte of the PDP-Laban who is under hot seat for his rape jokes, among other political gaffes in the campaign period for the Philippines' May 9 elections.
The United States' Republican Party front-runner Donald Trump also has his own share of infamy among the American electorate because of his unconventional style and thunderous diatribes against his opponents.
Duterte's "kissing scenes" with female fans also became the objects of derision from critics and rivals in the presidential race.
Much of the contempt heaped on his character was due to his penchant to lash at enemies and criminals using expletives and nasty words without letup.
Duterte's followers insisted it is part of his style as a leader and "reformer"; and the mayor from Mindanao feels no remorse when goaded to apologize for his "misplaced machismo."

WOMEN

Trump has been tormenting some women, including several female journalists, activists, and illegal aliens, who are mostly Latinos, with acerbic and no-holds-barred onslaughts.
He is unperturbed even if Mexico has threatened to ban him for life for his threat to erect a wall in the US-Mexico boundary if elected.
The billionaire celebrity doesn't have plans to change his style as long as he continued to attract gargantuan attention from voting public. 
With 991 (as of this writing) out of the needed 1,237 pledged delegates, Trump is expected to collect the party's official nomination before the June GOP convention, and is already revving up for a possible shootout with Democratic Party official nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton (2,168 out of 2,383 pledged delegates as of writing) in the November general election.

SURVEYS

Like the 70-year-old Duterte, 69-year-old Trump is also leading in the surveys--but only in the Republican Party.
Clinton, who is expected to put away Bernie Sanders (1,401 pledged delegates as of this writing) after two or three more primaries and caucuses, is still ahead in the surveys in a one-on-one showdown against Trump or any other GOP candidate.
Big names in political, showbiz, business and media industries have expressed displeasure on how both Duterte and Trump behaved during their respective campaigns, but the clock and mathematics have continued to tick on their favor.
With more than a week remaining before the May 9 elections, surveys still favor the mayor of Davao City, which earned notoriety for it's death squad that disposed of criminals via extra-judicial process.

ADMINISTRATION

But even if he is "comfortably" ahead in the SWS and Pulse Asia surveys, administration candidate, Liberal Party's Mar Roxas, has vowed to outhustle him during election day, which the 58-year-old pride of Capiz and grandson of former President Manuel Roxas, called as "the real survey."
Roxas' LP accounts for more governors and mayors all over the country, while Duterte boasts of the OFWs, soldiers, cops, low income earners, students, seniors as among his supporters. 
Their rivals, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Grace Poe, and Jejomar Binay, have also vowed to win the elections and introduce "change and reforms" in the Philippines.
Trump, on the other hand, will have to put exclamation point first on his rivalry with fellow GOP candidate, Ted Cruz (568 pledged delegates as of press time), before securing a face-off with Clinton.