28 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy, Second Edition FIGURE 1 CHANGES IN THE RESPONDENTS' PERSONAL QUALITY OF LIFE April 1984 to July 2016 / Philippines again democratic constitution had just been adopted and they looked forward to the coming national elections. After these two inspirational moments, Filipinos reverted to being QOL "losers" and to pessimistically suffering the condition for over two decades. The last decade, the Arroyo administration's watch, had been most difcult, with people reaching record depths in July 2008 in both loser status and in pessimism The subsequent Benigno Aquino, Jr. dispensation manages to fare only slightly better with Filipinos mostly feeling “losers” and pessimists but nally reporting gainer and optimist status twice only towards the end of his tenure. A July 2016 Pulse Asia survey records only the fth instance of gainer-optimist status by Filipinos. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, barely a month into his term, is properly welcomed by Filipinos professing themselves as gainers over the past year and optimists for the coming year. (See Figure 2). However, the election to the presidency of Corazon Aquino's son, Benign Simeon Aquino, Jr. picked up their agging spirits and Filipinos again began to be hopeful. By October, 2010, even as they continued to acknowledge deterioration in their family's QOL, hopes revived and people's optimism registered nationwide. A year after President “Pnoy”Aquino's electoral victory, net optimism remains but this time – in May 2011 -- markedly fewer