Maragtas

The Maragtas is a book, published in 1907 by Pedro Alcantara Monteclaro, in a mix of Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a. It tells how ten datus fled the cruel Raja Makatunaw in Borneo and sailed to Panay. There they traded gold and goods with the Ati chief Marikudo for the plains and valleys. Datu Paiburong received the area called Irong-Irong, now Iloilo. One chapter tells a love story involving Sumakwel, his wife Kapinangan and her lover. The book also lists customs, and ends with a list of Spanish officials.

Historians question how much of it is true. Monteclaro wrote it as an original work from sources he did not name, and no copy of those sources survives. So the landing of the ten datus is a tradition, not proven history. A modern festival in Antique, called Binirayan, recalls the story.

Do not confuse it with the Code of Kalantiaw. That code, often tied to Panay legends, is a known hoax made in 1913 by Jose E. Marco. The Maragtas is a separate work with its own debate about how much it records.