President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today received in Malacaņang two fishermen and two teenage sons, extolling them as "heroes of the nation" for saving passengers of the ill-fated Laoag International Airlines flight 585 that crashed into Manila Bay a week ago.

The President also presented two checks for P50,000 each to brothers Edgar and Crispulo Naga as token of gratitude for their heroic deeds. The two fishermen were with Elorde Naga, 12, son of Edgar, and Rico Cayabyab, 15, an adopted son of Edgar, who helped rescue plane passengers.

Edgar Naga said the money was early "pamasko" (Christmas gift) of the President to them. He said he would be used the President’s gift for the schooling of Edgar and Rico.

The President said she hopes Edgar and Rico, who are out-of-school youths, would be able to finish their education.

Elorde said in an interview after their meeting with the President that he wants to become a policeman and help apprehend kidnappers.

Rico said he also wants to finish school.

Crispulo Naga said he would be use the money to send his three children through high school.

The fishermen recounted to the President that they were already at sea on that fateful morning when they saw the Fokker plane going down.

Their immediate reaction was to approach the plane and rescue passengers. They said they were the first ones to arrive at the crash site and were able to pull some of the survivors out of the sinking airplane.

Fearing an explosion and afraid that the sinking plane might also pull their boat down, the four fishermen said they had to move out of the area quickly.

Malacaņang today said it was unfair and incorrect to conclude that corruption in the Philippines has worsened based on a survey of Transparency International (TI).

Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye, citing statements by TI itself, said the media was using the wrong analytical framework, which is the ranking of the Philippines.

"This is irrelevant since the number of countries identified in the survey changes every year. The number of countries surveyed increased from 91 in 2001 to 102 in 2002. As a result, the Philippines ranked 77^th as opposed to the 65^th in 2001. This does not mean its absolute ranking dropped since its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score only moved .3 points," he stressed.

The media erroneously reported this as a drop of 11 ranks, Bunye said.

TI itself says "comparisons to the results from previous years should be based on a country’s score, not its rank. A country’s rank can change simply because new countries enter the index and others drop out."

The truth is that the Philippines only dropped by .3 points in the 1-10 index, which is negligible, Bunye said.

Bunye said this year’s CPI score for the Philippines of 2.6 with a 0.6 standard deviation, is close to the score of 2.9 in 2001, indicating a more or less steady view by business people, risk analysts and the general public of the degree of corruption in government over the last few years.

"TI uses the annual CPI scores of countries to rank relative degrees of corruption. To determine whether corruption is perceived to be worsening or not, TI recommends that CPI comparisons be made based on an individual country’s year-to-year CPI scores," he said.

Bunye stressed that TI further cautions that year-to-year shifts in a country’s score can also result from changes in sample and methodology, not just from changing perception of a country’s performance.

According to Bunye, data for this year’s survey were culled from 15 polls from nine institutions, as compared to 14 polls from seven institutions for 2001.

"The CPI score relates the degree of corruption as perceived by business people and risk analysts and the general public in government. Rates for the degree of perceived corruption ranges from 1, meaning highly corrupt, to 10, meaning highly transparent and clean," he said.

Bunye also said that countries subjected to the survey are then ranked according to CPI scores.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered Energy Secretary Vicente Perez to organize a high-level working group, composed of Manila Electric Company’s official representatives and the company’s major creditors, including government stakeholders, to address the company’s problems and formulate a plant to maintain its financial stability as a public utility.

In his regular press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the President’s order was given in light of the Supreme Court Third Division’s decision on the issue of the firm’s having overcharged its customers since 1994.

Tiglao said the President, accompanied by her economic advisers, had a meeting with the Lopez group in Malacaņang last Friday.

Tiglao said that during the meeting, members of the Lopez group maintained that the Supreme Court’s decision was not right. "The President simply remarked that the Supreme Court is a very independent institution," Tiglao said.

"No mention at all or appeal to the President to do anything about it," Tiglao added.

Tiglao said Secretary Perez has scheduled a meeting with Meralco officials and the company’s creditors to undertake initial discussions to address the company’s problems and to reach a consensus on the creation of such a working group, which is tasked to formulate a detailed plan to maintain the utility firm’s credit standing.

Tiglao assured that the President is committed to implement strictly the Supreme Court’s decision, as soon as it is executory and as soon as the Energy Regulatory Commission, a quasi-judicial body that by law deals with electric rates, formulates the details and mechanism for implementing the High Court’s decision.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today declared December 24, Christmas Eve, as a special non-working day.

In issuing Proclamation No. 292, the President noted that December 24 has, in the past, been declared a special public holiday to give the people the full opportunity to enjoy the Christmas holidays with their families, relatives and friends.