Kalantiaw Code of Law

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The Kalantiaw Code of Law is a legend that originated in the region of what is now the Negros Occidental Province and deals with a code that was originally embedded in the Maragtas Legend . Legend has it that the Datu Kalantiaw is said to have written a code of law with 18 articles around the year 1433. The legend was first mentioned by the priest José María Pavón in a two-volume manuscript, which was written around 1838. It is called Las antiguas leyendes de la Isla de Negros (The ancient legends of the island of Negros). The original story is said to come from a Don Marcelio Orfila of Zaragoza from 1614, who in turn is said to have received it from a Datu from the island of Panay .

controversy

The authenticity of the Kalantiaw code is highly controversial, since the manuscript written by Don Marcelio Orfila of Zaragoza cannot be found and his person cannot be proven in the Spanish archives. The first printed edition appeared in 1913 under the title Civilización prehispana published in Renacimiento Filipino . 16 articles are noted in it and it is reported that King Kalantiaw had a destroyed fort rebuilt in Gagalangin in the year 435 AD. The authenticity of the legend is often questioned, since only 16, later 17 and today 18 articles are in the code. The places of history also migrated from the south of Panay to the island of Negros and later to the northern tip of the island of Panay, today's Aklan province , where, according to the official Filipino version, the seat of government of Datu Kalantiaw in the municipality of Banga is said to have been.

Since the story of the Legend of the Kalantiaw Law Book was not published until 1913, it is believed by modern historians that it was invented to give a pre-colonial story to the young Filipino nation. As with the Maharlikas , a national myth was woven around the Kalantiaw code of law .

The legend was taken to extremes by the dictator Marcos . For example, in 1971 he donated an order of the same name to honor merits for the national legal order. Two years later he had a memorial built, the area of ​​which is to be treated as sacred. This Kalantiaw memorial is also related to the Bagong Lipunan ( New Society ) political collective movement that he initiated .

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