KIDNAPPERS who seized three workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Mindanao on Thursday have opened talks for their release, a senior police source said yesterday.

The kidnappers, believed to be Islamic militants, called up an aide of Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan and said they were willing to open negotiations, said the source who asked not to be identified.

?We expect they will call again anytime soon. The caller did not identify himself and did not mention a ransom payment,? said the source.

But Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, said the Red Cross would not pay ransom to the abductors of Andreas Notter, 38, of Switzerland, Eugenio Vagni, 62, of Italy, and Jean Lacaba, 37, of the Philippines, all connected with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

?We are not talking with them [the kidnappers] if the purpose is to demand ransom,? he said.

?We will not pay ransom no matter what happens, but if they will release the hostages, they can do so by contacting us or even the media,? Gordon said hours before the kidnappers made contact.

Gordon said it was well known that extremist groups in Mindanao demanded a higher ransom if their victims were foreigners. But he said the Red Cross workers should have been spared because ?they have nothing to do with politics.?

?They do not treat combatants from either side as enemies. They extend help to both sides. And when they run away from the fighting, [the Red Cross is] the one that cares for them,? he said.

Gordon said the Red Cross had suspended its water sanitation project in Sulu, but its workers and volunteers would not stop their operations in Mindanao, where the Red Cross had been assisting 120,000 of the 300,000 people displaced by the armed conflict in Mindanao.

?The [Red Cross] has already said they will not leave. We will continue our work. We have a responsibility to fulfill,? Gordon said. AFP, Fel V. Maragay, Jaime Pilapil