Code of Kalantiyaw

Code of Kalantiyaw, purported pre-Spanish Philippine penal code claimed to have been written in 1433 and discovered on the island of Panay in 1614. Later research cast doubt on the code’s “discoverer,” José E. Marco, as a peddler of historical frauds.

Marco was a prolific writer on the history of the Philippines, although his work was rife with errors and outright fabrications. Nevertheless, throughout the 20th century many scholars in both the Philippines and the United States accepted Marco’s precolonial “source materials” at face value. Chief among these was the Code of Kalantiyaw, which listed 18 orders for the proper punishment of 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. As early as the 1960s, historians began to question the validity of the code, but many Filipinos continued to regard it as an important legal document. Nonetheless, in 2004 the National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) declared the Code of Kalantiyaw to be a hoax perpetrated in the early 20th century.