This election season, candidates for the Philippine presidency have raised barely a word about the minimum wage, land reform, inequality, or climate change. While recent contests in Latin America have pressured even conservative politicians to pay lip service to socially progressive causes, in the Philippines the discussion has shifted so far to the right, there is no room for pretense.

Among the choices are the current administration’s Liberal Party frontrunner, Mar Roxas, who promises business as usual, and Vice President Jejomar Binay, who proposes an even more aggressive suite of neoliberal economic reforms, and himself faces a round of corruption charges.

The emergence of Miriam Defensor Santiago and her chosen running mate, Bongbong Marcos, son of the former dictator, show that history repeats itself in this country in farcical ways. Then there’s Senator Grace Poe — perhaps the sanest bet — who, like her father before her, risks being kicked out of the presidential race entirely over questions of her Filipino citizenship.