Even without a proof of life, government negotiators in Iraq are confident that Filipino hostage Robert Tarongoy is still alive, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

Foreign Affairs Spokesman Gilberto Asuque said that the Philippine team to Iraq has "credible information" that Tarongoy remains in the custody of his abductors.

"No video is needed to proved that he is alive," he said, however.

An American contractor who was abducted along with Tarongoy by Iraqi gunmen in the upscale Mansour district in Baghdad was shown in an undated video on Tuesday pleading for sparing his life.

The video did not mention anything about Tarongoy's whereaboutsor condition.

But Asuque said that Philippine negotiators led by Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis relayed to the home office in Manila that he received information from intermediaries that Tarongot is still alive.

Tarongoy has been in captivity for almost three months.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo in a recent press briefing assured that the department's resources and manpower are in place to secure his freedom.

"As we remain committed to secure the freedom of our fellow countryman, we in the department have high hopes that our efforts would bring positive results in the end. We will be here and we will be there as long as it takes. But we hope it will not take long," Romulo said.

Tarongoy, 31, is a native of Davao and has been working for theSaudi Arabia Trading Company since early July.