Indeed, cleaning up after Duterte is the massive emergency awaiting his successor. The crimes of his regime – its drug-war kills, its institutional corruption, its treasonous dealings with China – are the sort that leaves an extensive and still compounding mess. All the same, Marcos, if the job fell to him, would be expected to default and find ways to protect Duterte. But then he would only be useful in that way for the remainder of his term. To be useful longer, he’d have to get elected President himself, a prospect that might improve with the advantage of incumbency.