PRE 1935 LEGAL SYSTEM

Before the coming of Spanish colonizers, the people of the Philippine archipelago had already
attained a semicommunal and semislave social system in many parts and also a feudal system
in certain parts, especially in Mindanao and Sulu, where such a feudal faith as Islam had
already taken roots. The Aetas had the lowest form of social organization, which was primitive
communal. Their jurisprudence would still be borne out today by the so-called Code of
Kalantiyaw and the Muslim laws. These were touchstones of their culture. One of the few
written documents to survive from the pre-Spanish Philippine culture. The penal code was
apparently written in 1433 and discovered on the island of Panay in 1614. Eighteen orders
decreed the proper punishment to be administered for certain moral and social transgressions.
Depending on the gravity of the offense, punishment ranged from a light fine to being cut to
pieces and thrown to crocodiles. Many of the offenses specified—such as cutting sacred trees,
singing during night walks, and killing white monkeys—shed light on the ancient Filipino
religious beliefs.

The Barangays or independent communities were the unit of government structures before
Spain colonized the Philippines. The head of each barangay was the Datu. He governs the
barangays using native rules which are customary and unwritten. There were two codes during
this period: the Maragtas Code issued by Datu Sumakwel of Panay Island and the Code of
Kalantiao issued by Datu Kalantiano in 1433. The existence of these codes is questioned by
some historians.

Just like many ancient societies, trial by ordeal was practiced.

THE CODE OF KALANTIAW

The Code of Kalantiaw was a mythical legal code in the epic story Maragtas. It is said to have
been written in 1433 by Datu Kalantiaw, a chief on the island of Negros in the Philippines. It was
actually written in 1913 by Jose E. Marco as a part of his historical fiction Las antiguas leyendas
de la Isla de Negros (Spanish, "The Ancient Legends of the Island of Negros"), which he
attributed to a priest named José María Pavón.

In 1917, the historian Josué Soncuya wrote about the Code of Kalantiaw in his book Historia
Prehispana de Filipinas ("Prehispanic History of the Philippines") where he moved the location
of the Code's origin from Negros to the Panay province of Aklan because he suspected that it
may be related to the Ati-atihan festival. Other authors throughout the 20th century gave
credence to the story and the code.

In 1965, then University of Santo Tomas doctoral candidate William Henry Scott began an
examination of prehispanic sources for the study of Philippine history. Scott eventually
demonstrated that the code was a forgery committed by Marco. When Scott presented these
conclusions in his doctoral dissertation, defended on 16 June 1968 before a panel of eminent
Filipino historians which included Teodoro Agoncillo, Horacio de la Costa, Marcelino Foronda,
Meceredes Grau Santamaria, Nicolas Zafra and Gregorio Zaide, not a single question was
raised about the chapter which he had called The Contributions of Jose E. Marco to Philippine
historiography. Scott later published his findings debunking the code in his book Prehispanic
Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History.[1] Filipino historians later removed the code
from future literature regarding Philippine history.[2] When Antonio W. Molina published a
Spanish version of his The Philippines Through the Centuries as Centuries as historia de
Filipinas (Madrid, 1984), he replaced the Code with one sentence: "La tésis doctoral del
historador Scott desbarate la existencia misma de dicho Código" (The doctoral dissertation of
the historian Scott demolishes the very existence of the Code).[3]

Philippine historian Teodoro Agoncillo describes the Code as "a disputed document".[4] Some
history texts continue to present it as historical fact.[5] Struggle for Freedom (subtitled A
textbook on Philippine History) says, "Reproduced herein is the entire Code of Klaintiaw for your
critical examination and for you to decide on its veracity and accuracy."[6] The story is still
believed by people in the central provinces due to mis-education.

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.

The Maragtas Legend

How do historians know about events that occurred in the Philippines before the time of the
Spaniards? How do they know the names of the people who lived then and the things they did if
there are almost no authentic written documents from that era?

Much of what we know about the prehispanic era came to us through legends. These are
stories that were not written but were spoken by each generation to its following generation.
Many legends are usually nothing more than stories about the creation of the world, the first
man and woman and such. It is easy to see that these are not meant to be regarded as fact.
There are some legends that may have a been based on actual events but they are not reliable
records of the past because legends can change with each telling. Often a teller's memory can
be weak or mistaken or the teller may even add or remove parts of the story just to spice it up.

This article is about one legend called Maragtas but not the Maragtas that was once taught to
Filipino school children. This article is about a modern myth that surrounds a book entitled
Maragtas. And, just like the legends of old, this one has been “spiced up” too. In this case,
however, the legends have become confused with history. And, as we shall see, when history
and legend are mixed, the stories often sound better but the truth always suffers.

The Legends of Maragtas

The stories known as the Maragtas are legends that may or may not be based on actual events
in the remote past. They are about the ten datus or chiefs who escaped the tyranny of Datu
Makatunaw of Borneo and immigrated to the island of Panay. Once there, they supposedly
bought the lowland plains of the island from Marikudo, the leader of the indigenous Aytas, for
the price of a solid gold salakot (hat). According to the legend, these ten chiefs and their families
are the very ancestors of the entire Visayan population. This is the legend that has been
celebrated yearly in the Ati-atihan festival since the late 1950s when it became a part of the
annual feast of the Santo Niño in Kalibo, Aklan.

REFERENCE

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Philippine_History/Before_The_Coming_of_Spanish_Colonialists