MANILA, Philippines?Secretary Cerge Remonde Sunday downplayed the drop suffered by the Philippines in the worldwide press freedom index compiled by an international media watchdog, saying it was ?a matter of perception.?

The Philippines dropped several notches in the Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2008 conducted by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RWB)?from 128th last year to 139th this year in the list of 173 countries.

Remonde, chief of the Presidential Management Staff, said he was saddened by the country?s drop in ranking, but that the government would take steps to improve it.

?But if you think hard about it, this is more perception than reality,? he said over government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

If the watchdog were closely monitoring the TV and radio networks, and newspapers, it would discover that the Philippine press is ?very lively, aggressive and free,? Remonde said.

?Not a day goes by without the media bashing the government. It?s being criticized rightfully or wrongfully here in the Philippines,? he said.

The press freedom index measures the state of press freedom in a country. It shows the degree of freedom that journalists and news organizations enjoy in a particular country, and the actions taken by the authorities there to respect this freedom, the group said.

The RWB believes ?peace? is what guarantees press freedom.

The watchdog mainly blamed corruption as among the main reasons for the poor ranking of certain countries, saying this ?eats away at democracies.?

Iceland, Luxembourg and Norway topped the list, all tying in first place.

Turkmenistan (171st), North Korea (172nd) and Eritrea (173rd), on the other hand, were at the bottom.

Strangely, the RWB index ranks the United Arab Emirates, an absolute monarchy known for censorship of political and moral views, way higher than democratic countries like the Philippines.

South Korea, which routinely bans North Korean websites, was also ranked one of the highest in Asia, next to Japan and Taiwan. France scored higher than the United States. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Cambodia and Timor-Leste all scored higher than the Philippines.