1989 Davao hostage crisis

April 1989 DaPeCol hostage taking On April 2, 1989, Felipe Pugoy and his prison gang the "Wild Boys of DaPeCol" staged a hostage-taking at the Davao Penal Colony (DaPeCol). Pugoy's group of 14–15 convicts each took a hostage. The group armed with knives overcame the prison guards and escaped with a jeepney. Troops from the Philippine Constabulary along with helicopters intercepted Pugoy's group from the prison. House Speaker Ramon Mitra and Senator Santanina Rasul were with the government negotiators. Pugoy's group demanded a plane to Manila to engage in dialogue with then-President Corazon Aquino to request a transfer to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa due to alleged abuse by DaPeCol prison officials. It was agreed to by both parties that the negotiations were to be continued in Davao City. During negotiations on the night of April 3, the gang reiterated 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 convicts who surrendered were temporarily held in the Davao City Jail. The final demand of Pugoy was to see his mother, which the military reportedly agreed to. The final two hostage takers reportedly surrendered after they were promised a transfer to the National Penitentiary and were detained along with the rest of the convicts. Most of the convicts were eventually transferred to the Davao Metrodiscom. The promise of a transfer to the National Penitentiary was denied due to the hostages filing charges of kidnapping against their former captors. ==Events==

On August 13, 1989, 16 convicts including leaders Pugoy and Mohammad Nazir Samparani, a former sergeant from the Philippine Air Force who was dismissed from service in a 1976 hostage crisis, took 15 members of the Joyful Assembly of God as hostage. All but one of the convicts were part of the Wild Boys of DaPeCol. The Protestant group had conducted a prayer service at the prison shortly before being taken hostage. The Wild Boys took the hostages to protest against prison conditions and demanded to speak with Congressman Ramon Mitra and Senator Nina Rasul. Both politicians declined the demand saying that the crisis must be dealt with by the military negotiators. ==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 witnessed a soldier delivering a coup de grace to a wounded inmate hostage taker. 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. The body of Hamill was retrieved hours after her death. According to survivors, Hamill along with Pugoy were wounded as early as the 10:30 a.m. gunfight on August 15. At around 3:15 p.m, some minutes after the troops stormed in the prison, Major Nonito Serrano found Hamill wounded and 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. Hamill was a member of Christian City's Girraween Pentecostal church in New South Wales which had been sending missionary groups of 30–40 people to the Philippines since 1986. 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 had resided for three to four years, for the Philippines on July 15, 1989. Hamill's parents discouraged her to go to the Philippines but she insisted on going due to having "a calling" to the Philippines. She had been teaching at the facility for a month before the hostage-taking incident. Evans initially said that the Philippine government couldn't be blamed for the incident. He later said that Jacqueline Hamill may have been killed by a sniper from the military following a finding by the Davao Doctors Hospital contrary to earlier reports that she was killed by slashed throat. 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. ==Depictions in media==

A film about the August 1989 hostage incident, Pugoy – Hostage: Davao, was released in 1993. The film starred Ian Veneracion as Felipe Pugoy, Lito Legaspi as Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (portrayed as Mayor Duwalde or Antonio Duwalde in the film) and Gina Pangle as Jacqueline Raye Hamill (portrayed as Jennie Copper became the missionary in the film). A 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. In 2019 it was featured in the biopic Bato: The General Ronald dela Rosa Story. ==2016 presidential elections==

Alternate account Another account of the hostage involves Rodrigo Duterte, who was reportedly the Chairman of the peace and order council at the time. He reportedly came to the prison after the President Corazon Aquino tasked him to check on 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 were convinced by Duterte to take him and the rest of the hostages to the Davao City Hall where they stayed. The hostage-takers, except for Pugoy and three other individuals, surrendered after some time. Duterte claimed that he was planning to shoot at the remaining four until Congressman Jesus Dureza intervened. Dureza informed then-President Corazon Aquino of Duterte's plan who, in turn, called Duterte and asked him to resolve the hostage situation peacefully. This caused outrage from human rights and women's rights advocates, as well as his presidential campaign rivals which condemned Duterte remarks as insensitive. Duterte claimed to have ordered the storming of Davao Metrodiscom during the April 1989 hostage incident. Duterte apologized for the way he spoke but insisted the remark was not a "joke" as reported by some media outlets and that he had spoken the remark in a narrative and out of "utter anger" when he recalled the incident. ==References==