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"Towards the end of the fourteenth century Datu Dinagandan moved the capital of Aklan to the present site of Batan which was captured in 1399 by Chinese adventurers under Kalantiaw, who forth with ruled Aklan. In 1433 the son of Kalantiaw, Kalantiaw III laid down a written code of laws now known as the Code of Kalantiaw. The short-lived Kalantiaw dynasty ended when Kalantiaw III was slain in a duel with Datu Manduyog, legitimate successor to Datu Dinagandan. When Manduyog became the new ruler, he moved the capital to Bakan (ancient name of Banga) in 1437. Several datus succeeded Manduyog and when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in Batan in 1565, Datu Kabayag was ruling Aklan from what is now the town of Libacao." - European Philippine Service
I. You shall not kill; or steal; or you do hurt the aged; or incur the danger of death. All who infringe this order shall be condemned to death by drowning with stones in the river, or in boiling water.
II. You shall obey: Have all your debts with the tingueo (principals or leaders) be met punctually. He who does not obey shall receive, the first time, one hundred lashes. If the debt is large, he shall be beaten to death.
III. You obey: Let no one have very young women; nor more than he can support; nor be given to excessive lust. He who does not comply with, obey, and observe this shall be condemned to swim for three hours (the first time), and for the second time, to be beaten to death with sharp thorns; or (for the second time) he shall be lacerated with thorns.
IV. Observe and obey: Let no one disturb the quietness of the graves. When passing by the caves and trees where deads are, give them reverence. He who does not observe this order shall be killed by exposing him to ants or beaten with thorns until he dies.
V. You shall obey: He who makes exchanges for food, let it be always done in accordance with his words. He who does not comply shall be beaten for one hour, he who repeats the offense shall be exposed for one day among the ants.
VI. You are obliged to honor sites that are held with respect, such as trees of value, and other sites. He who fails to comply shall pay a month's work in gold or honey.
VII. They shall be put to death: He who kills trees of venerable appearance; he who shoots arrows at night at older men and women; he who enters the house of the tingueo without permission; he who kills sharks or the streaked cayman (crocodile).
VIII. Slavery for a year shall be suffered by: Those who steal away the woman of the headmen; by him who keeps ill tempered dogs that bite the headmen; by him who burns the field of another.
IX. It shall be an obligation: Let every mother teach matters pertaining to lust secretly to her daughters, 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 and be cut to pieces and feed to the caymans.
X. All those shall be beaten for two days, who: Sing while travelling by night; kill the Mana-oe bird (bird resembling an eagle); tear the documents belonging to the headmen...; or mock the dead.
XI. They shall be burned: Those 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 elder men (agurangs).
XII. They shall be drowned: All those slaves who interfere with their superiors, or their owners, or masters; all those who abuse themselves through their lust; those who destroy their anitos (idols) by breaking them or throwing them down.
XIII. All those shall be exposed to ants for half a day: Who kill black cats during the new moon; or steal anything from the chiefs and elders (agurangs), however small it may be.
IV. Those shall be made slaves for life: Who have beautiful daughters and deny them to the sons of the chiefs, and with bad faith hide them away.
XV. Those shall be beaten: Who eat the diseased flesh of the beasts which they hold in respect, or the herbs which they consider good; who would try to kill the young of Mana-oe or of the white monkey.
XVI. The fingers shall be cut off: Of all those who break idols of wood and clay in their olonans (probably shrines) and temples; of those who destroy the daggers of the katalonas (priest or priestess) for killing pigs, or break their drinking jars.
XVII. Those shall be killed: Who desecrate sites where idols are kept, and sites where are buried the sacred things of their diwatas (fairies) and tingueo (leader). He who performs his necessities in those places shall be burned.
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 agurangs, they shall be placed in rivers to be fed to sharks and caymans. |
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