What Is the Code of Kalantiaw, the Pre-Colonial Penal Code That Was Later Found to Be a Hoax?

During ancient times, law codes served as the written statement of laws in a society. Compilations of said laws and customs have been around since as far back as 2400 BC, archiving local, provincial, and sometimes national ideas of justice throughout history. These were attempts at creating some form of legal unity among people. These were syntheses of political and philosophical concepts, and were used as benchmarks in how we thought about social order during each period.

In the retelling of pre-colonial Philippines, there was a time when The Code of Rajah Kalantiaw was once considered a highly revered document in our political thought and patrimony. It was a pre-Hispanic Philippine penal code that was well-regarded as an essential legal document of our people. So much so that it was published in textbooks and was written about for decades. There was even a state honor dedicated to its lore. But, as it turns out, the legend was much stronger than truth.

Our National Admiration for the Code of Kalantiaw

The code was supposedly a legal code written by Datu Bondahara Kalantiaw in 1433, and was discovered in 1614. Kalantiaw was said to have been a chief on the island of Negros, whose writings were immortalized in the epic of Maragtas. Mentions of the code would appear in Philippine history textbooks, too.

The Order of Kalantiaw medal, bestowed upon judges and legal luminaries in the 20th century.

Photo by Medalbook.com.

The Laws Under the Code of Kalantiaw

The following was allegedly the Code of Kalantiaw's 18 articles:

Article I

Ye shall not kill, neither shall ye steal nor shall ye hurt the aged, lest ye incur the danger of death. All those who this order shall infringe shall be tied to a stone and drowned in a river or in boiling water.

Article II

Ye shall punctually meet your debt with your headman. He who fulfils not, for the first time shall be lashed a hundredfold, and If the obligation is great, his hand shall be dipped threefold in boiling water. On conviction, he shall be flogged to death.

Article III

Obey ye: no one shall have wives that are too young, nor shall they be more than what he can take care of, nor spend much luxury. He who fulfils not, obeys not, shall be condemned to swim three hours and, for the second time, shall be scourged with spines to death.

Article IV

Observe and obey ye: Let not the peace of the graves be disturbed; due respect must be accorded them on passing by caves and trees where they are. He who observes not shall die by bites of ants or shall be flogged with spines till death.

Article V

Obey ye: Exchange in food must be carried out faithfully. He who complies not shall be lashed for an hour. He who repeats the act shall, for a day be exposed to the ants.

Article VI

Ye shall revere respectable places, trees of known value, and other sites. He shall pay a month's work, in gold or money, whoever fails to do this; and if twice committed, he shall be declared a slave.

Article VII

They shall die who kill trees of venerable aspect; who at night shoot with arrows the aged men and the women; he who enters the house of the headman without permission; he who kills a fish or shark or striped crocodile.

Article VIII

They shall be slaves for a given time who steal away the women of the headmen; he who possesses dogs that bite the headmen; he who burns another man's sown field.

Article IX

They shall be slaves for a given time, who sing in their night errands, kill manual birds, tear documents belonging to the headmen; who are evil-minded liars; who play with the dead.

Article X

It shall be the obligation of every mother to show her daughter secretly the things that are lascivious, and prepare them for womanhood; men shall not be cruel to their wives, nor should they punish them when they catch them in the act of adultery. He who disobeys shall be torn to pieces and thrown to the caymans.

Article XI

They shall be burned, who by force or cunning have mocked at and eluded punishment, or who have killed two young boys, or shall try to steal the women of the old men (agurangs).

Article XII

They shall be drowned, all slaves who assault their superiors or their lords and masters; all those who abuse their luxury; those who kill their anitos by breaking them or throwing them away.

Article XIII

They shall be exposed to the ants for half a day, who kill a black cat during the new moon or steal things belonging to the headmen.

Article XIV

They shall be slaves for life, who having beautiful daughters shall deny them to the sons of the headman, or shall hide them in bad faith.

Article XV

Concerning their beliefs and superstitions: they shall be scourged, who eat bad meat of respected insects or herbs that are supposed to be good; who hurt or kill the young manual bird and the white monkey.

Article XVI

Their fingers shall be cut off, who break wooden or clay idols in their olangangs and places of oblation; he who breaks Tagalan's daggers for hog killing, or breaks drinking vases.

Article XVII

They shall be killed, who profane places where sacred objects of their diwatas or headmen are buried. He who gives way to the call of nature at such places shall be burned.

Article XVIII

Those who do not cause these rules to be observed, if they are headmen, shall be stoned and crushed to death, and if they are old men, shall be placed in rivers to be eaten by sharks and crocodiles.

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Historian Jose E. Marco wrote about it in his historical fiction Las Antiguas Leyendes de la Isla de Negros (The Ancient Legends of the Island of Negros) in 1913, as well. There, Marco credited a priest named Jose Maria Pavon as his source.

Fellow historian Josue Soncuya, likewise, wrote about the Code of Kalantiaw in his book Historia Prehispana de Filipinas (Prehispanic History of the Philippines) four years later. He would make one correction though. The author moved the location of the code's origins from Negros to Panay because, as he asserted, it was much more likely that the code had something to do with the Binirayan festival, which is celebrated in Antique.

In 1971, the Order of Kalantiaw, based on the document, was even a state honor that was established by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It would be conferred to retiring Supreme Court justices and the like. More than 200 individuals would be given the distinction throughout its records.

Marcos Sr. issued Presidential Decree 105 back in 1973, which was written for the protection of established national shrines as sacred or hallowed places. Among these were the birthplace of Dr. Jose Rizal in Calamba, Laguna; Fort Santiago, for obvious reasons; the Aguinaldo Mansion in Kawit, Cavite; and yes, the Code of Kalantiaw.

The Code of Kalantiaw marker in Aklan.

Photo by NHCP.

Its existence would continue to be presented as a historical fact throughout the latter half of the 20th century. The code was embraced by Filipinos, especially from the Panay region. A Kalantiaw Shrine and Museum was established in Batan, as well. Datu Bondahara Kalantiaw would also be honored as the first Philippine lawmaker.

In 1956, the Philippine Historical Committee, had even made a bronze marker for the Batan area, reading:

“CODE OF KALANTIAW. Datu Bendehara Kalantiaw, third Chief of Panay, born in Aklan, established his government in the peninsula of Batang, Aklan Sakup. Considered the First Filipino Lawgiver, he promulgated about 1433 a penal code now known as Code of Kalantiaw containing 18 articles. Don Marcelino Orilla of Zaragoza, Spain, obtained the original manuscript from an old chief of Panay which was later translated into Spanish by Rafael Murviedo Yzamaney.”

But It Was All a Hoax

In the 1960s, historians and pundits had already started questioning the validity of the document. In spite of its wide acceptance and publishing, the code was eventually contended by historian William Henry Scott, who called it fraudulent in his Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History back in 1968.

Marco, one of the pioneering historians who put forth the idea of the Code of Kalantiaw, was later found to have many of his works rife with historical error, consistences, and downright fabrications. One of them was the Code of Lakantiaw, which had no historical basis upon further investigation. Another historian, the late great Teodoro Agoncillo disputed the document during his time, as well.

Unfortunately, the Code of Lakantiaw would be deemed a historical fabrication. In the early 2000s, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dropped the Order of Kalantiaw from the Honors Code of the Philippines, which sought "to create an order of precedence of honors conferred and for other purposes.”

With finality, the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) officially confirmed that the Code of Kalantiaw was a hoax in 2004. NHI Resolution No. 12 declared the Code of Kalantiaw invalid. With it, these were the subsequent pronouncements:

1. The Kalantiaw Code is a twentieth-century fraudulent work by Jose Marco;
2. The President of the Philippines should cease to honor retiring Supreme Court justices and other international dignitaries with the Order of Kalantiaw; and
3. The revocation of Executive Order 234, which recognized Datu Bondahara Kalantiaw as "The First Philippine Lawgiver."

The power of legends, right?