ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, April 6 (AFP) - There has been no breakthrough in talks to free 33 people held hostage for 17 days by a Muslim group in the southern Philippines, President Joseph Estrada's national security adviser said Thursday.

Retired general Alexander Aguirre met government negotiators here shortly after flying in from Manila. The Abu Sayyaf group has threatened to kill the 32 students and teachers plus a Roman Catholic priest in their custody if their demands are not met by April 15.

"There has been no major breakthrough in the negotiations for the safe release of the captives," Aguirre told reporters after the meeting.

The Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two groups demanding an Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao, kidnapped 53 students, teachers and a Roman Catholic priest on March 20 to use them as human shields after a failed attack on an army post in the island of Basilan.

They released 20 hostages in exchange for food and medicine, but warned they would kill the rest if the military launched an offensive.

Aguirre said he told military officials in Zamboanga on Thursday that the government could not give in to an Abu Sayyaf demand to have movie action star Robin Padilla head the government's negotiating team.

Padilla, described as the "bad boy of Philippine movies" who converted to Islam while serving a jail term on firearms charges, could only be a mediator "who would deliver the message" of the captors to the government, Aguirre said.

A group of armed vigilantes led by former Abu Sayyaf leader Abdul Midjal retaliated by snatching 11 relatives of Abu Sayyaf leader Abdurajak Janjalani, including his wife and one-year-old daughter.

On April 3 the vigilantes gave the Abu Sayyaf a 12-day deadline to free the hostages or they would kill the relatives by firing squad. The Abu Sayyaf's 33 hostages reportedly include two of Midjal's relatives.

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