Kalantiaw Code

I am so honored that an eminent Philippine historian has quoted my poem and published it in a national newspaper, Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Below is my "haiku" that Ambeth R. Ocampo quoted in his article "Revisiting the Kalantiaw Hoax", in his column "Looking Back", Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A15, April 14, 2010. Unfortunately, he distorted the 3rd and 4th lines. He also said that this work is a haiku.

"Pag-agto ko sa Batan. Ha kita ko si Ambeth Ocampo. Ginpaeapitan na si Datu Kalantiaw. Nagkaea to ero an dangueo. (When I went to Batan, I saw Ambeth Ocampo. He approached Datu Kalantiaw. Both scratched their heads.)”

For the benefit of my readers, the above poem is a luwa and not a haiku. Here is the correct version:

Pag-agto ko sa Batan
Hakita ko si Ambeth Ocampo
Ginpaeapitan na si Datu Kalantiaw
Nagkaeatoe ro andang ueo

In this particular article, he said that "Each semester when I discuss the pre-Spanish Philippines in my undergraduate classes, we all have a big laugh when we discuss the Code of Kalantiaw. For example: Rule III states that if you are excessively lustful you will be condemned to swim in the river for three hours for the first offense, and lacerated with thorns for the second!"

Of course, I did not have a big laugh when he said that the above poem is a haiku and when he distorted the Aklanon words. I pity him for his ignorance of our language, Aklanon, and our literature. I am afraid however when Aklanon words are distorted by a national figure like Mr. Ocampo and published them in a national newspaper like the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

I do not know if Mr. Ambeth Ocampo and his undergraduate students will have a giant laugh if they discuss the Code of Hammurabi.

Here are seventeen example laws, in their entirety, of the Code of Hammurabi, translated into English:

* If anyone ensnares another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

* If anyone brings an accusation against a man, and the accused goes to the river and leaps into the river, if he sinks in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty, and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

* If anyone brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

* If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then the builder shall be put to death.(Another variant of this is, If the owner's son dies, then the builder's son shall be put to death.)

* If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.

* If a man give his child to a nurse and the child dies in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurses another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.

* If anyone steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

* If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

* If a man strikes a pregnant woman, thereby causing her to miscarry and die, the assailant's daughter shall be put to death.

* If a man puts out the eye of an equal, his eye shall be put out.

* If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.

* If anyone strikes the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.

* If a freeborn man strikes the body of another freeborn man of equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina [an amount of money].

* If the slave of a freed man strikes the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.

* If anyone commits a robbery and is caught, he shall be put to death.

* If anyone opens his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water floods his neighbor's field, he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.

* If a judge tries a case, reaches a decision, and presents his judgment in writing; and later it is discovered that his decision was in error, and it was his own fault, he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case and be removed from the judge's bench.

* If during an unsuccessful operation a patient dies, the arm of the surgeon must be cut off.

Sources:

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100413-264099/Revisiting-the-Kalantiaw-hoax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi
Retrieved: April 15, 2010

P.S.

I lifted these reactions from the Facebook of Ambeth Ocampo (Retrieved: April 23, 2010):

Christine Mae F. Sarito I am just so proud that Mr. Melchor Cichon is mentioned in Prof. Ambeth's column today about the Kalantiao hoax...Mr. Cichon is one of the library personnel in the University of the Philippines Visayas Miagao, Iloilo Library where I finished college. Eventhough Prof. Ambeth may not be welcome in Aklan, I know for sure that he is more than welcome in other parts of the Philippines. My sister works in the condominium you are staying Professor, and I just so envy her every time she mentions that she's in speaking terms with you...I should have given my sister my copy of "Rizal Without the Overcoat" so that you may sign it Professor. ^_^Thank you very much for enlightening us with your researches. Truly, we are thankful that we have you in this lifetime.
See More

April 14 at 10:15pm

Al F. Dela Cruz

I beg to differ from your assumption, ma'am. Batan and its nearby municipalities are renown for its hospitality. Even the Augustinian missionaries had observed that during their time of evangelization, our forebears where the most hospitable, peace-loving, highly-cultured people in the peninsula (cf. R. Morales Maza's The Augustinians in Panay [... See More1987]). Of course, the professor is always welcome here in our place. We tolerate dissenting opinions even to the point that "mag kaea-eatoe ro among ueo" (our heads would be itchy).

April 16 at 8:48am · Report
Christine Mae F. Sarito

I wrote "eventhough Prof. Ambeth may not be welcome in Aklan" because it seems to be implied in the column. ^_^
I did not mean to generalize...

April 16 at 6:56pm · Report