MANILA, Philippines -- Majority of Filipinos want to reduce the term of president, vice president, and senators to five years from the current six, according to a recent survey.

The Social Weather Station survey from July 13-17 showed that 56 percent of 1,200 respondents nationwide were open to a five-year term for president and vice president while 43 percent were not.

Meanwhile, 55 percent of the respondents also approved the same term of office for senators while 45 percent were against it.

But 63 percent voted against extending the term of office of congressmen and local officials for another two years or from three years to five years.

The survey was commissioned by Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez, chairman of the oversight committee that also came out with a report proposing the holding of elections every five years.

“It was noted by the committee, and validated by the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] and BoC [Bureau of Customs], that collection performance suffers a dive during election years. This decline is evident six months prior to elections,” the report said.

“If frequent elections are held, the collection of revenues and consequently the balancing the budget objective are greatly affected,” it further said.

Suarez said the survey simply confirmed the people’s support for a five-year term of office for elected officials.

The poll also showed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s net satisfaction rating plunge to -50 percent, -16 percent for Speaker Prospero Nograles and -3 percent for House Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora.

Neophyte Senator Francis Escudero got a +64% net satisfaction rating, followed by Senate President Manuel Villar with +57 percent, Vice President Noli de Castro with +3 percent, and Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno with +percent, it said.

Among the government institutions, the Senate got a net satisfaction rating of +15 percent, followed by the Supreme Court, +8percent, and the House of Representatives, with zero net approval, according to the SWS survey.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs got the lowest satisfaction rating with -15 percent, Court of Tax Appeals with -10 percent, Cabinet as a whole with -8 percent, Department of Finance with -7 percent, and Bureau of Internal Revenue with -3 percent, it said.

The government‘s over-all satisfaction rating was -24 percent, it said.

Asked if the Philippine economy was progressing, 63 percent disagreed, 23 percent agreed, and 13 percent were undecided for a net satisfaction rating of -40 percent.

As to the question on whether the government should reduce taxes on electricity and oil and instead raise the taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and luxury items, 76 percent of the respondents agreed, 15 percent disagreed while 9 percent were undecided.