Let illegal loggers be bitten by ants

Recently, at the height of the charges and counter charges of illegal logging in Negros, I wrote that we should have used the "Code of Calantiao" decreed in 1433 to punish illegal loggers and also to show we are a superior race having a set of laws, cruel though they may be, as early as 1433.

I wrote that those who desecrated trees of value were severely punished.

The other day I received a letter from a new-found friend and avid reader of Feedback, Jeffrey M. Taggart a complete and comprehensive 14-page research on the Code of Calantiao.

Calantiao, it turned out, was not a Datu in Aklan but here in Negros. Eat your heart out, people of Aklan. Calantiao is ours.

Because I wrote that I lost my copy of the Code, Jeff sent me a complete copy of the 18 laws covering about 40 different offenses.

***

I found out that, of the 18 rules, three No. 4, 6, and 7 provide punishment for not respecting trees. Violators were also to die when they killed the venerated trees.

Rule No. 4 says, "Let not the peace of graves be disturbed; due respect must be accorded them on passing by caves and trees where they are…"

Those who violated "…shall die by bites of ants or shall be flogged with spines till death."

Rule No. 6 says, "Ye shall revere respectable places, trees of known value, and other sites." Violators were to "pay a month's work, in gold or money, whoever fails to do this; and if twice committed, he shall be declared a slave."

And Rule No. 7 says, "They shall die who kill trees of venerable respect…" The mode of killing a violator is not prescribed, by ant bites, by drowning in the river, or by submerging in boiling water.

The Code of Calantiao may be too harsh but, for the heck of it, why don't we try subjecting those accused of illegal logging and those who fail to stop it, to some ant bites in the plaza.

Some special forms of punishment may be effective too. A few years ago in one town in Iloilo, a chief of police had a bright idea. A drunk brought to jail for creating trouble was made to ride a lion statue in the plaza. He had to whip the lion to stand and would not be released until the lion stood up.

He vowed to reform. He could stand the punishment but not the laughter of school children passing by.

***

In the research of Jeff Taggart, the validity of the Code was questioned by historian William Henry Scott in 1968 in his doctoral thesis at the University of Santo Tomas.

No question was made by any historian on his thesis but Calantiao is still revered even if he is a myth. Popular historian Gregorio Zaide who was in the panel that examined Scott, in his 1970 book "Great Filipinos" wrote of Calantiao as a "paramount ruler." He ignored Scott's claim that Calantiao was a hoax.

Marcos named a Philippine Navy ship RPS Datu Kalantiaw in 1967 but it was sunk by Typhoon Clara on Sept. 20, 1981. Then he instituted the "Order of Kalantiaw" on March 1, 1971, an award for "services to the country in the area of law and justice." He declared a Kalantiaw Shrine on Jan. 24, 1973 in Batan, Aklan and on June 19, 1978 issued a 30-centavor postage stamp in honor of Rajah Kalantiaw. In his P.D. 105, Marcos, ordered, like Calantiao, harsh punishments for those who make unnecessary noise and unbecoming acts in the Shrine - 10 years imprisonment and P10,000 fine or both.

Kalantiaw is the Filipino spelling, while Calantiao is hispanized.

***

What is interesting is that, while Calantiao is believed to be a Datu in Batan, Aklan where he was supposed to reign in 1433, the Scott research showed Calantiao and his code was the product of the fertile imagination of a Negrense, Jose E. Marco of Pontevedra, Negros Occidental.

A well known Aklan historian Diego Alba swore there was no legend or folklore about Kalantiaw in Aklan. Scott submitted written statements from Alba.

Calantiao was made an Aklanon only by historian Josue Soncuya in his book "Historia Prehispanica." A native of Banga, Aklan Soncuya said the great lawgiver was from Aklan because the Code contained two Aklan words in the text.

Marco wrote in 1912 in his "Reseña Historics de la Isla de Negros" about 16 laws decreed by King Kalantiaw in 1433 and a fort he built at Gagalangin, Negros.

Attention, Negros Occidental Historical Commission, let's have the Shrine brought to Negros from Batan, Aklan.

Marco said, he got his facts from the two volumes written by Friar Jose Maria Pavon in 1838 and 1839 containing the Code of Calantiao. Pavon was the parish priest of Himamaylan in 1840.

***

I want to thank very profusely my friend, Jeff, an associate of the well known Kadushin Associates, expert architects and planners, at Ann Arbor in Michigan.

But let us not kill Calantiao. Let us transfer his Shrine from Batan in Aklan to Pontevedra in Negros. I'd like to ask both Danding Cojuangco and his lawgiver son, like Calantiao, Charlie to work for this transfer. If it's difficult, let us put up an alternative Shrine.

King Arthur of Britain is a legendary figure. But he is still revered after writers, especially those of medieval times, made him a chivalric king warrior presiding over his equally chivalrous knights of the Round Table.

Let us have writers to write about Calantiao in the way the medieval writers popularized the Arthurian Romances like Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur," Spenser's "Faerie Queen," and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."

In a country where the laws are becoming soft, sometimes a farce, reviving Calantiao can awaken the need for upholding these laws. Harsh though they may be, they are the laws. Dura lex sed lex.*

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