Capitol acts, renames building
KALANTIAO, FICTIONAL HERO
LINGAYEN—For too long, Pangasinenses thought of Rajah Kalantiao as one prominent historical figure in the province. In fact, one building in the capitol complex was named after him.
But this is going to change after a study determined that Rajah Kalantiao whose person and supposed claim to glory was found to be a fiction, and a mere legend.
The Kalantiao Building will now be renamed Palaris Building in honor of Pangasinan freedom fighter Juan Dela Cruz Palaris.
The change in name was initially recommended by the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission pointing out that it was inappropriate to honor Kalantiao by naming a government building after him and instead proposed …the venerable hero, Palaris, in honor and recognition of his contributions to Pangasinan history.”
In a subsequent resolution, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last April 7, the board officially affirmed that “Rajah Kalantiao is not a Pangasinense and, worse, is a non-existent person with no historical record and just a figment of the imagination.”
It said that the continued use of the name Kalantiao is “a historic aberration and constitutes and insult to the sensibilities and patriotic fervor of Pangasinenses.”
Second District Board Member Nestor Reyes, author of the resolution, said the Capitol Complex is the seat of government of the province of Pangasinan and thus reflects the distinct ideals, identity, culture, history and aspirations of Pangasinenses.
Datu Kalantiaw was supposed to be a Filipino who was believed to have created the first legal code in the Philippines in 1433 known as the Code of Kalantiaw. The code was supposedly contained in one of five manuscripts acquired from Jose E. Marco by the Philippine Library in 1914.
However, historian William Henry Scott, in his PhD thesis titled Critical Study of the Pre-hispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History, debunked the Kalantiao Code and asserted that there was no evidence that any Filipino ruler by the name of Kalantiaw ever existed or that the Kalantiao penal code is any older than 1914. Scott successfully defended the thesis in 1968 before a panel of eminent Filipino historians that included Teodoro Agoncillo, Horacio de la Costa, Marcelino Foronda, Nicolas Zafra, and Gregorio Zaide.
The thesis was published by the University of Santo Tomas Press in 1968 and the Kalantiao Code has since been removed from readings on Philippine history.
The Wikipedia Philippines, however, noted that the inhabitants of Panay still believe that Rajah Kalantiao did exist and figured in their local history.
PALARIS
On the other hand, Juan de la Cruz, also known as Palaris, a Pangasinan leader who lived between 1733 and 1765, led a revolt against the Spanish colonizers which came to be known as the Palaris Revolt.
De la Cruz was born to Santiago de la Cruz, a village chief, and Catalina Ugnay, both from the town of Binalatongan, now San Carlos City.
The Kalantiao Building was first constructed in March 1956 during the term of Governor Conrado F. Estrella (1955- 1963).
It underwent general facelift and restoration works under Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. in 2008. It now houses the offices of the Human Resource Management, Provincial Legal, Provincial Employment Services, Provincial Health, Provincial Population and Provincial Nutrition.–Tita Roces with report from Johanne R. Macob
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