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. At the time of her death on August 15, 1989, she was 36 years old. 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 wanted to escape due to abuse from prison officials. He said that they claimed 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 on prison officials involved if the investigation warranted such action. Bello also defended the military's action saying that the prisoners were determined not to be taken alive. Rodrigo Duterte (the mayor of Davao at the time and currently the President of the Philippines) who was among the civilian officials who were part of the negotiating team, slammed the criticism of 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 the 5 hostages as "most unfortunate" and added that the order was to save lives and to apprehend the hostage-takers but that they would be shot if they resisted. 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. 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. A film about the August 1989 hostage incident, "", was released in 1992.