Code of Kalantiaw

The Code of Kalantiaw is a fake. It claimed to be a law code of a chief named Kalantiaw, written in 1433 on Panay. The code had 18 articles with harsh penalties, such as drowning, burning or slavery. It said that people should not kill or steal. In 1913, a Filipino collector named Jose E. Marco produced the papers that supported it. Marco wrote the story as part of his historical fiction.

The code spread because scholars trusted it. In 1915, the American historian James Alexander Robertson presented it. In 1917, Marco moved the code's place of origin to Aklan. In 1957, a presidential order called Kalantiaw the first Philippine lawgiver, and a marker was set in Batan, Aklan. Teachers taught the code for decades.

In 1968, the historian William Henry Scott showed that Marco had forged the documents. In 2005, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines said the code has no valid historical basis. The marker is no longer on the official list. Some textbooks still list the code as fact, so it remains a good example of a hoax that grew into history.