1989 Davao hostage crisis
| 1989 Davao hostage crisis | |
|---|---|
 The hostage takers attempting to leave the prison using the hostages as human shields including Australian missionary, Jacqueline Hamill (center, wearing a striped dress). August 15, 1989. | |
| Location |
Davao Metrodiscom Davao City, Philippines |
| Coordinates | 7°3′51.8″N 125°36′38.7″E / 7.064389°N 125.610750°ECoordinates: 7°3′51.8″N 125°36′38.7″E / 7.064389°N 125.610750°E |
| Date | August 13–15, 1989 |
| Target | Joyful Assembly of God members |
Attack type | Hostage crisis |
| Weapons |
M16 rifle M6 rifle knives |
| Deaths | 21 (5 hostages and 16 prisoners)[1] |
| Perpetrator | Wild Boys of DaPeCol |
| Motive |
Prison transfer Prisoner abuse |
In August 13 for two days, 16 inmates at the Davao Metropolitan District Command Center (Davao Metrodiscom) who escaped from the Davao Penal Colony months ago took in 15 members of the a Protestant group, Joyful Assembly of God as hostage. The inmates were part of the prison gang by the name Wild Boys of DaPeCol, led by Felipe Pugoy and Mohammad Nazir Samparani.
Background
April 1989 DaPeCol hostage taking
Prior to the August 1989 hostage, Felipe Pugoy and his prison gang which went by the name Wild Boys of DaPeCol staged a hostage taking at the Davao Penal Colony (DaPeCol) in April 2. Pugoy's group of 14-15 convicts took a hostage each. The group armed with knives overcame along with their hostages the prison guards and escaped through a jeepney. Troops from the Philippine Constabulary along with helicopters intercepted Pugoy's group 120 kilometres (75 mi) from the prison. Then House Speaker Ramon Mitra and Senator Santanina Rasul were part of the government negotiators. Pugoy's group demanded a plane to Manila to engage dialogue with then President Corazon Aquino to request for them to transferred to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa due to alleged abuse of DaPeCol prison officials. It was agreed by both parties that the negotiations were to be continued in Davao City.[2][3][4]
During negotiations on the night of April 3, the hostage reitirate their demand for a plane. Hours later 13 hostage takers released their hostages and peacefully surrendered while Pugoy and the other leader Ricardo Navarro held on to their hostages, two teenage girls. The surrendered convicts which expressed opposition for them to be sent back to DaPeCol, were temporarily held in the Davao City Jail. The final demand of Pugoy was to let him see his mother which the military reportedly complied to this request.[2] The two were eventually detained along with the rest of the convicts.[4]
The hostage takers reportedly surrendered after they were promised to be transferred to the National Penitentiary. Most of convicts were transferred to the Davao Metrodiscom. The promised was never delivered due to the hostages filing charges of kidnapping on their former captors.[3]
Alternate account
Another account of the hostage involves Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who was reportedly the Chairman of the peace and order council at the time. Duterte reportedly came to the prison after the President Corazon Aquino tasked him to check the situation at the prison. Duterte negotiated with Pugoy and offered himself in exchange for two hostages, a woman and a three month old baby. The Wild Boys was convinced by Duterte to take him and the rest of the hostages to the Davao City Hall where they could take rest.[5][6]
The hostage takers except for Pugoy and three other individuals surrendered after some time. Duterte planned to shoot at the remaining four until Congressman Jesus Dureza intervened. Dureza informed then President Corazon Aquino of Duterte's plan through phone who in turn called Duterte to resolve the hostage situation peacefully.[5][6]
Pugoy and his group were imprisoned at the Davao Metrodiscom jail after they refused to be taken back to DaPeCol for fear of reprisal from prison officials.[6]
Events
| Hostage Takers | Timeline[7] |
|---|---|
| Wild Boys of DaPeCol (16 individuals) Felipe Pugoy / Mohammad Nazir Samparani (Hostage leaders) |
August 13 |
| Negotiators[8] | |
|
Silvestre Belllo | |
| Hostages: 15 (From the Joyful Assembly of God, inc. Jacqueline Hamill) | |
16 convicts including leaders Pugoy and Mohammad Nazir Samparani, a former sergeant from the Philippine Air Force who was dismissed from service in 1976 staged hostage crisis took 15 members of the Joyful Assembly of God, a Protestant group as hostage. All but one of the convicts were part of the Wild Boys of DaPeCol. The Protestant group conducted a prayer service at the prison shortly before being taken hostage.[1][9][10]
The Wild Boys staged a hostage taking to protest against prison conditions and demanded dialogue with Congressman Ramon Mitra and Senator Nina Rasul. Both politicians declined the demand saying that the crisis must be dealt by the military negotiators.[10]
By August 15, the inmates reportedly surrendered after being promised to be transferred to a prison in Manila. Gunshots were fired as inmates crossed a chain-link fence along with the hostages. Some hostages were able to escape as the rest were dragged back into prison.[10] According to one of the escaped hostage, said that nine of the hostages, all female including Australian missionary, Jacqueline Hamill were raped by the inmates.[9] This led the military to storm into the prison later that day after the hostage takers still refused to cooperate.[10]
The hostage crisis was resolved by a combined police-military intervention which was able to rescue 10 hostages with two hostages earlier able to escape. The end of the crisis saw the 5 deaths of the hostage including Hamill as well as all of the 16 hostage takers.[1][9] Although it was unclear if the five deaths among the hostages were the result of the intervention or caused by the inmates.[11]
Aftermath
The survivors of the hostage crisis were put into military custody immediately after the crisis was resolved. Reporters were barred from interviewing the survivors raising speculation of a coverup. Brig. Gen. Mariano Baccay, one of the negotiators said that the survivors were still recovering from shock caused by the incident. It was reported that photographers covering the event witness a soldier delivering a coup de grace to a wounded inmate hostage taker.[8]
Investigation
Committee on Defense chairman, Senator Ernesto Maceda sent a team led Gen. Felix Brawner to Davao City investigate and interview the negotiators involved.[8] The team was also reportedly led by Popemyo Vasquez.[12]
The team concludes that there were no efforts to maintain adequate security measures in the 80-inmate capacity detention facility. The small number of jail guards at the time of the hostage crisis led them to lowering their guard down and became "more familiar and easy" on the inmates. The team found that this led to the sole security guard, CIC Antonio Alcazar, to be compromised by the prisoners who took his M-16 armalite rifle.[12]
Maceda and Vasquez' team also describe the approach of the joint Regional Special Action Force-Davao Metrodiscom team on the assault and rescue operations during the hostage crisis as conducted with "decisiveness and professional competence". Maceda noted the lack of training of local civilian officials on handling the crisis and expressed surprise at their decision to give a shoot-to-kill order on the hostage takers.[12]
Furthermore, the team rule out that Hamill was killed by military sniper following an autopsy report. The investigators also learned that the hostage takers were adamant on releasing Hamill during the negotiations saying that the particular hostage was their "trump card". The decision to conduct an assault was found out to follow the attempt of the hostage takers to break from prisoners and that delaying the operation would risk the lives of the five hostages still under the prisoners' custody. A delay would also give the prisoners an opportunity to escape the prison compound at night time. The shooting by the rescue and assault team were also found to be deliberate with 7 either dead or wounded in a wide area among a circle of 30 people.[12]
Finally the team recommended that the military review the security measures on all detention centers and the training of personnel tasked to handle detainees. The rules of entry of visitors to prisons and other detention centers was also proposed to be reviewed and modified.[12]
Death of Jacqueline Hamill
| Jacqueline Hamill | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jacqueline Raye Hamill 7 April 1953 Australia |
| Died |
15 August 1989 (aged 36) Davao City, Philippines |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Missionary |
| Years active | ?–1989 |
| Home town | Tasmania |
| Religion | Protestantism |
The death of Jacqueline Hamill, an Australian missionary received relatively more attention. A medical examination finding by the Davao Doctors Hospital described the cause of victim's death as "a gunshot wound from the back of the left chest region exiting near the collarbone" contradicting early reports that she was killed by slash on her throat.[13] The doctors conclude that Hamill had an instantaneous death, dying during the attempted escape of the prisoners in the morning on August 15.[14]
An autopsy conducted on Hamill's corpse found that the fatal bullet that hit the missionary had an upward trajectory and could not have been caused by a military sniper which had an elevated position.[12]
The body of Hamill was retrieved hours later after her death. According to survivors, Hamill along with Pugoy were wounded as early as during the 10:30pm gunfight in August 15. At around 3:15 p.m, some minutes after the troops stormed in the prison, Major Nonito Serrano found Hamill which he found wounded brought her into the adjoining administration building. Hamill was brought to the Davao Doctors Hospital through a Red Cross ambulance. Hamill was declared dead on arrival.[1]
Jacqueline Hamill, a twin, was one of the 10 children of Ray and Jean Hamill of Strahan, Tasmania. She grew up along the West Coast of Tasmania.[15]
Hamill was a member of Christian City's Girraween Pentecostalist church in New South Wales which has been sending missionary groups of 30-40 people for the past 3 years. She went to the Philippines as an independent missionary without formal backing from her church and taught prisoners at the Davao Metrodiscom (now Davao City Police Office). Hamill was invited to conduct missionary work at the facility for six months. She left Sydney, where she was residing for three to four years, for the Philippines in July 15. Hamill's parents discouraged her to go to the Philippines but she insists due to having "a calling" in working in the country and according to her twin sister, she has been in the Philippines before.[16][15] She has been teaching at the facility for a month before the hostage taking incident.[3] At the time of her death in August 15, 1989, she was 36 years old[16]
Reactions
Domestic
President Corazon Aquino expressed sadness following the incident's aftermath. She absolved the military personnel involved in the crisis of charges.
Silvestre Bello, another negotiator, said that the hostage takers said they want to escape due to abuse from prison officials. He said that one of them accounts that three of their companions had their ears chopped off by prison officials and also added that they demanded to be transferred to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa. He said there would be no hesitations to impose sanctions to prison officials involved if the investigation warrants such action. Bello also defended the military's action saying that the prisoners were determined not to be taken alive.[8]
Rodrigo Duterte who was among the civilian officials who were part of the negotiating team, slammed the criticism oft the military intervention by the investigation team led by Maceda saying that the military assault was the "only civilized option available to government at the time." He also added that the decision to launch the action was "collective". He described the death of 5 people as "most unfortunate" and added that the order was to save lives and to apprehend the hostage takers but would be shot if they resist.[3]
Australia
Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Foreign Minister Gareth Evans were blamed by Hamill's parents saying that they were "too concerned about their budget to care". The Hamills also criticized the Philippine military's decision to storm the prison.[13]
Evans initially said that the Philippine government can't be blamed "express, or implied" for the incident. He later said that Jacqueline Hamill may have been killed by a sniper from the military following a medical examination finding by the Davao Doctors Hospital contrary to earlier reports that she was killed by slash on her throat.[13]
Philippine authorities were urged by Evans to investigate to determine the source of Hamill's fatal wound and have those responsible charged. The Australian embassy in Manila was directed by its foreign ministry to submit a complete report on the incident.[13]
Depictions in media
A film about the August 1989 hostage incident, Pugoy Hostage: Davao, was released in 1992. The film which starred Ian Veneracion as Felipe Pugoy, Lito Legaspi as Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (portrayed as Mayor Duwalde in the film) and Gina Pango as Jacqueline Hamill. The comic published in 2015 entitled Digong: Ang Kanlungan ng mga Inaapi at Inaabuso (lit. Digong: The Refuge of the Oppressed and Abused) by KC Cordero and JM Estrabela, illustrated by Karl Comendador which narrated an account of the April and August 1989 hostage incidents involving Davao City Mayor, Rodrigo Duterte.[17]
2016 presidential elections
In 2016, 27 years later after the incident, Duterte made remark relating to the 1989 incident, particularly the raping of the Australian missionary in one of his campaign rallies. Duterte made the controversial joke on April 12, when he talked to a crowd about Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill who had been kidnapped, raped and killed in 1989 and said, “She was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first.” [18] This caused outrage from human rights and women's rights advocates, as well as his presidential campaign rivals which condemned Duterte for his remarks as insensitive.[19] Duterte claimed to be have ordered the storming of Davao Metrodiscom during the April 1989 hostage incident.[20] Duterte apologized for the way he spoke but insists the remark is not a "joke" as reported by some media outlets and spoken the remark in a narrative and out of "utter anger" when he recalled the incident.[21][22]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Davao Prison Hostage Drama Ends in Tragedy; 21 Dead; 10 Rescued". UCA News. 18 August 1989. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- 1 2 "2 escaped convicts hold into captives". New Strait Times. 6 April 1986. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "WHAT WENT BEFORE". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Inquirer Research. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
...Duterte and other civilian officials, who were part of the negotiating team, issued shoot-to-kill orders to troops shortly before bloody assault started.
- 1 2 Fabonan, Epi III (24 April 2016). "#Journeyto30 Hostage drama". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- 1 2 Arguilas, Carolyn (18 April 2016). "Duterte in 1989: “Shoot-to-kill can never be shoot-to-live”". MindaNews. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 "The 1989 Pugoy hostage incident in Davao". Davao Breaking News. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ↑ "LOOKBACK: The Davao hostage crisis of 1989: Part 1". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Ramos Jr., Serafin; Cabrido, Boy (19 April 2016). "LOOKBACK: The Davao hostage crisis of 1989: Part 3". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 Reid, Robert (16 August 1989). "Hostage crisis siege ends with 21 dead". The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Albor, Teresa (16 August 1989). "20 Killed As Attack Ends Filipino Siege". Chicago Tribune.
- ↑ "21 killed in tryy to free hostages". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. 16 August 1989. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Maragay, Fel (24 August 1989). "Security lapse blamed in Davao". Manila Standard. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "LOOKBACK: The Davao hostage crisis of 1989: Part 4". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ↑ Darby, Andrew; Humphries, David (17 August 1989). "A Servant of God to the last moment". The Age. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- 1 2 Larsen, Greg (16 August 1989). "Woman missionary killed in jail seige". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- 1 2 Owen, Mark (2010). Key to Life (goodbye to the gods). Gympsie, Queensland, Australia: Felicity, Press. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ↑ "LOOK: How Duterte comics portrayed Pugoy hostage crisis". ABS-CBN News. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ↑ "A Presidential Candidate in the Philippines Made a Rape Joke—and Soared in the Polls".
- ↑ "Rodrigo Duterte: Philippines presidential candidate hits back as rape remark sparks fury".
- ↑ Murdoch, Lindsay (18 April 2016). "Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte condemned for comments on rape of Australian missionary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ↑ "Rivals slam Duterte for ‘distasteful’ rape joke". Philippine Daily Inquirer. April 17, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
- ↑ Ranada, Pia (April 17, 2016). "Duterte: Not sorry for rape remark, that's how I speak". Rappler. Retrieved April 18, 2016.