MANILA, Philippines?Islamic militants holding Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni hostage have made a fresh ransom demand, Senator Richard Gordon, chief representative of the international aid group, said Thursday.

"I learnt that they are now demanding a ransom," said Gordon, head of the Philippine National Red Cross, citing a source he refused to name.

"There was a ridiculous amount mentioned. But since I did not get it from them, I don?t want to mention it," he told reporters, stressing that the Red Cross would not pay any ransom.

Vagni was one of three Red Cross workers abducted by the Abu Sayyaf on January 15 on the southern island of Jolo, where the three were on a humanitarian mission.

In April the Islamist gunmen, blamed for many of the country's worst terrorist attacks, separately freed unharmed a Swiss and a Filipina co-worker. The terms of their release were not disclosed by either side.

Gordon added that he knew the kidnappers contacted Vagni?s wife by telephone in Italy on June 2 and that they then sent another message on June 7.

Philippine Navy spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo, the designated official spokesman for the Red Cross hostage case, told reporters the government had no information on the ransom demand.

He added: "If you are to ask the members of the security forces if ransom should be paid, the answer should be no."

Arevalo said paying up would "teach them to be criminals" and lead to more kidnappings and put the lives of more Filipino soldiers in danger.