Travel and Tourism

BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The ancient Maragtas Chronicle in the 13th century recount the coming of 10 Malayan Datus from Borneo, the island where they settled, befriended the aborigines, and finally negotiated for the barter of Panay. The 10 datus framed their government by forming the Confederation of Madya-as and divided the island into three sacups (provinces) Aclan (Capiz), Hantic (Antique), and Irong-irong (Iloilo). An independent communal government was established with Hantic as the capital. Datu Bangkaya was the Chief of Aclan, Datu Paiburong of Irong-irong, and Datu Sumakwel of Hantic, who was also the Chief Executive of the confederation.

Batang: The Capital of Aclan

Two hundred years after Datu Bangkaya, Datu Bendahara Kalantiaw became the Chief Executive of the Madya-as Confederation and it’s sacups with Batang (Batan) as the seat of his government. In 1433 A.D. he promulgated his Code of Kalantiaw which contains 18 sugo (orders) that can be compared to the Code of Hammurabi of Babylon, Code of Lygurcus of Sparta, Code of Solon of ancient Athens, and the Code of Harmhad of Egypt. Datu Bendahara Kalantiaw was the first Philippine lawgiver and his Code of Kalantiaw was the oldest code of the Philippines. To prove and attest that Datu Bendahara Kalantiaw had his seat of government in the present-day Batan and he promulgated his code in the same place, the Philippine Historical Commission together with the Batan Historical Society erected a Historical Monument Marker in his honor on December 8, 1956. A 6.657 square meters lot owned by the municipal government of Batan was converted into a National Kalantiaw Shrine with a museum for the relics, artifacts, and other memorabilia of Batan wherein the structure is within a park of centuries-old acacia and other fruit bearing trees.