Ramos gives Arroyo's kidnap policy thumbs up

By CNN's Hope Ngo

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's 'no negotiations, no deals' policy could secure the release of the 20 hostages in a month's time a former president has said.

Former president Fidel V. Ramos in an interview with CNN said Arroyo's policy on the Abu Sayyaf would be no different from his own.

"During my time, there were some kidnappings of this nature by the Abu Sayaaf, and also by the Moro National Liberation Front, because we hadn't yet achieved our peace agreement with them at the time," he said.

VIDEO Ramos on weekend kidnapping Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"The way I did it was to keep the level of negotiations as low as possible, meaning, assign the task to the mayor of the town, or the village chief, assisted by the local chief of police, the (Catholic) parish priest in the community, and assisted by a muslim imam," Ramos said.

"If we keep it at a very low level, the kidnappers wouldn't have that much leverage, as they did during the time of Mr. (Joseph) Estrada," he said.

The last statement was a veiled criticism of Ramos's ousted successor, Joseph Estrada, who recruited cabinet-level officials to negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the release of victims kidnapped off the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan.

The hostages were released after a reported payment of US $1 million each.

"To me, that muddled up so many things and aggravated the situation to that of a very serious national incident," he said.

He also denied the widespread belief that the Abu Sayyaf, notorious for daring kidnap raids, was a serious threat to the country.

"The Abu Sayyaff is really an outlaw gang, (it's) not that big, operating in the southern islands of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi-these are three small provinces in the Philippines," he said.

"It's a criminal organization that is not into any negotiation with the government. The government refuses to negotiate with these outlaws, in the same way that the government is now negotiating with the secessionist group called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front," he said.

To those who doubted Arroyo's resolve, Ramos said her critics need only look at the release of American hostage Jeffrey Schilling, whose release was secured by the country's armed forces within three months after the new president took office.

Schilling was kidnapped during the short-lived Estrada administration.