DUBLIN, October 30, 2009 (AFP) - An elderly Irish Roman Catholic priest who was abducted in the southern Philippines almost three weeks ago is still alive and has received the medicine he needs, the Sinn Fein party said on Friday.

Gerry Kelly, a junior minister with the Sinn Fein republican party in Northern Ireland, said that his sources in the Philippines suggested that Father Michael Sinnott had received the treatment he needed for his heart problems.

Sinnott, who has worked in the Philippines for decades, was taken at gunpoint from his mission office in the city of Pagadian, on October 11, two months before his 80th birthday.

Kelly said he had been in touch with contacts in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978 but has offered to help in the search for the priest.

"They know that he is alive and in as good health as he can be. I suppose where there is life there is hope," the minister, who has been involved in the Philippines peace process, told Ireland's RTE state radio.

"My understanding is that he has received the medicine that he needs. He has his medication."

The priest, who had heart surgery four years ago, was believed to be held in the area of Lanao del Norte by a criminal gang, Kelly said.

The MILF was initially suspected over the kidnap but has denied involvement and even offered to assemble a special team to help government troops track down Sinnott.