Kalantiaw Code

Laws are said to be the measure of a nation's civilization. Greece, Rome, China and Egypt could not have built their great civilizations without an edifice of laws to govern their people.

Long before the Spaniards planted the seed of Western culture in the Philippines, the native Filipinos had already evolved their own rules of behavior based on their customs, traditions and beliefs. Two of these are now part of our historical heritage-the Maragtas Code, drafted in 1250 A.D. and the Code of Kalantiaw, believe to have been written in 1443 A.D.

The origin of the Code of Kalantiaw is shrouded in myth and legend. It is said that Aklan, one of the three kingdoms of ancient Panay, was once ruled by Datu Bendahara Kalantiaw, a descendant of the 10 migrant datus who fled from a cruel ruler in Borneo to settle in Aklan in 1212 A.D. Being a wise and just ruler, Kalantiaw saw fit to codify the penal laws of his kingdom.

In 1838, Fr. Jose Maria Pavon put into manuscript from the stories and legends he collected in Negros Occidental. Included in this collection was the Code of Kalantiaw which, Pavon claimed, was contained in a document found in 1614 in the possession of a local chieftain in the island of Panay. Some historians, however, had raised serious doubts as to the authenticity of Kalantiaw's penal code since no original written record had survived.

Whether fact or friction, the Code of Kalantiaw is still a reflection of the best in our culture, tradition and values, President Ramon Magsaysay recognized this fact when, on February 11, 1957, he declared a 12,995 square meter tract of land along Bataan Bay as national shrine to honor one of the country's greatest lawgivers.


Laws of the Code of Kalantiaw

Article I
You shall not kill, neither shall you steal, neither shall you do harm to the aged, lest you incur the danger of death. All those who infringe this order shall be condemned to death by being drowned in the river, or in boiling water.

Article II
You shall obey. Let all your debts with the headman be met punctually. He who does not obey shall receive for the first time one hundred lashes. If the debt is large, he shall be condemned to thrust his hand in boiling water thrice. For the second time, he shall be beaten to death.

Article III
Obey you: let no one have women that are very young nor more than he can support; nor be given to excessive lust. He who does not comply with, obey, and observe this order shall be condemned to swim for three hours for the first time and for the second time, to be beaten to death with sharp thorns.

Article IV
Observe and obey; let no one disturb the quiet of the graves. When passing by the caves and trees where they are, give respect to them. He who does not observe this shall be killed by ants, or beaten to death with thorns.

Article V
You shall obey; he who exchanges for food, let it be always done in accordance with his word. He who does not comply, shall be beaten for one hour, he who repeats the offense shall be exposed for one day among ants.

Article VI
You shall be obliged to revere sights that are held in respect, such as those of trees of recognized worth and other sights. He who fails to comply shall pay with one month's work in gold or in honey.

Article VII
These shall be put to death; he who kills trees of venerable appearance; who shoot arrows at night at old men and women; he who enters the houses of the headmen without permission; he who kills a shark or a streaked cayman.

Article VIII
Slavery for a doam (a certain period of time) shall be suffered by those who steal away the women of the headmen; by him who keep ill-tempered dogs that bite the headmen; by him who burns the fields of another.

Article IX
All these shall be beaten for two days: who sing while traveling by night; kill the Manaul; tear the documents belonging to the headmen; are malicious liars; or who mock the dead.

Article X
It is decreed an obligation; that every mother teach secretly to her daughters matters pertaining to lust and prepare them for womanhood; let not men be cruel nor punish their women when they catch them in the act of adultery. Whoever shall disobey shall be killed by being cut to pieces and thrown to the caymans.

Article XI
These shall be burned: who by their strength or cunning have mocked at and escaped punishment or who have killed young boys; or try to steal away the women of the elders.

Article XII
These shall be drowned: all who interfere with their superiors, or their owners or masters; all those who abuse themselves through their lust; those who destroy their anitos (religious icons) by breaking them or throwing them down.

Article XIII
All these shall be exposed to ants for half a day: who kill black cats during a new moon; or steal anything from the chiefs or agorangs, however small the object may be.

Article XIV
These shall be made slave for life: who have beautiful daughters and deny them to the sons of chiefs, and with bad faith hide them away.

Article XV
Concerning beliefs and traditions; these shall be beaten: who eat the diseased flesh of beasts which they hold in respect, or the herb which they consider good, who wound or kill the young of the Manaul, or the white monkey.

Article XVI
The fingers shall be cut-off: of all those who break anitos of wood and clay in their alangans and temples; of those who destroy the daggers of the catalonans(priest/priestess), or break the drinking jars of the latter.

Article XVII
These shall be killed: who profane sites where anitos are kept, and sites where are buried the sacred things of their diwatas and headmen. He who performs his necessities in those places shall be burned.

Article XVIII
Those who do not cause these rules to be obeyed: if they are headmen, they shall be put to death by being stoned and crushed; and if they are agorangs they shall be placed in rivers to be eaten by sharks and caymans.