Comments about the proposed blackout came from National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre after other Philippine officials suggested the government was considering a military attack on the Abu Sayyaf rebels.
The rebels recently released many of the hostages they have been holding for months in exchange for millions of dollars, then angered the government by kidnapping three more people from a Malaysian diving resort on Sunday.
"I will endorse the idea of a non-reporting of the operational matters or matters that will prejudice national interest," Aguirre said on Thursday.
He said the government should announce general actions involving the hostage crisis but keep secret the details to protect government operations.
Latest hostage-taking seen as act of defiance
The latest kidnapping, which took place despite a promise by the guerrillas not to take any more hostages while negotiations were under way, was seen as a defiance of the government.
But during a high-level Cabinet meeting on Wednesday chaired by President Joseph Estrada, the tougher steps, including a military attack, were delayed.
The threat of rebel attacks was made on dxRZ radio. The spokesman for the guerrillas said, "I'm asking our brother Muslims to go to safer ground because we will attack ... if the military conducts an operation.
"If we will wait for the military to exercise their option, maybe we will just suffer, so we may initiate (the attack)."
The spokesman said Muslims living in the main town on Jolo island and in the cities of Zamboanga, Davao and General Santos should evacuate because of possible attack.
There were no immediate signs of increased security in those cities and local officials said the rebels had often made those threats before.
Rebels still hold 19 including one American
The Malaysian abduction came after the release of the final four of 21 hostages taken in April from another Malaysian resort.
But the Abu Sayyaf are still holding 19 other hostages: 12 Filipino Christian evangelists who were seized when they went to counsel the hostages; a Filipino resort worker; two French television journalists and Jeffrey Schilling, a 24-year-old American who is married to the second cousin of the rebel spokesman Abu Sabaya.
The rebels say they are fighting for an independent Islamic state in southern Philippines. Negotiations for the remaining hostages have been suspended because of infighting among Abu Sayyaf factions -- 12 rebels have been killed during recent inter-faction battles -- over the division of the money.
Negotiators say about $15 million in ransom, sometimes as much as $1 million per hostage, has been paid so far, about $10 million of it by Libya. Much of it, say officials, has gone towards the purchase of fresh arms for the rebels.
Instead of turning again to the special team that handled earlier abductions, the government said on Thursday it was giving responsibility for talks over the release of the three Malaysians to local officials in Jolo.
The special team has been criticized for paying huge ransoms to the guerrillas.
CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief Maria Ressa, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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