So Now let's talk about the written laws during Pre Spanish Era

There were only 2 written laws that were said to be discovered during the pre-spanish era.
These are the Maragtas Code and the Code of Kalantiaw.
So, The existence of these codes is questioned by some historians
First, let's discuss, what is the maragtas code?

As mentioned earlier, it is one of the first written laws, in PHs.

During the Pre- spanish Era, This law heavily punishes and imposes penalties for those who commit the
crime of slothfulness, or in layman's terms, the crime of being lazy, especially towards Work. This law
gives importance to hard labor concerning Field related work, such as planting, and harvesting crops as
one of their primary sources of livelihood and cultivation of lands. So later on, as we examine the
provisions of the code, we will know what are their laws on Laziness, Family, Marriage, and the like.

This is written By Datu Sumakel in the year 1250. He was the chief of the Island of Panay and is one of
the 10 Bornean Datus who fled to the Visayan Island.

Before we look into the Provisions of the code, Let's know first how the Maragtas code came about.
During the Pre-Spanish Era, The Visayans established a form of government for mutual protection and
prosperity. It was Datu Sumakwel who was regarded as the chief of the entire island of Panay. He was
assisted by four subordinates: Lubay, Paduhinog, Dumalogdog, and Dumangsol.)

Datu Sumakwel,
As chief of the datus and head of the districts, having been granted the highest authority on the island was
empowered to improve penalties and execute orders to all of the Islands' inhabitants, Hence the Maragtas
code.

The Maragtas code consists only of 10 Rules,

These Rules governed the entire legal system during the said period.

The code is somehow partitioned into› 4 categories.

1. Deliberate refusal to work in the fields or to plant anything for daily subsistence is a most serious crime
which deserves a severe penalty. This is reflected in Rule no. 1-4, notice that these Rules speak about
penalties for laziness towards matters concerning work or field labor
2. ROBBERY of any sort shall be punished severely.

–The fingers of the thief shall be cut off.

.3.Only those who can support a family or several families can get married more than one and have as
many children as they can. (6-7)

a) The poor family cannot have more than two children because it cannot support and properly bring up in
the community a greater number of children.

b) The children who cannot be supported by their parents shall be killed and thrown into the river.
.

4.–If a man has a child by a woman and he runs away to evade marriage, his child by this woman shall be
killed because it is difficult for a woman without a husband to support a child.
(reflected in rule no. 8-10)
a) The parents of the woman shall disinherit her.

b) The village authorities shall look for the man, and when they catch him and he still refuses to marry, he
shall be buried in the same grave.

According to some sources,

Maragtas Code is a document that supposedly narrates the effort of ten Bornean datus and their purchase
of the island of Panay from Negritos thus introducing their homeland in fact, this story was brought into
the light, through one of the famous legends and myths in the PH, known as the The legend of maragtas,
Maragtas is a legend that may or may not be based on actual events in the remote past. Once there, they
supposedly bought the lowland plains of the island from Marikudo, the leader of the indigenous Aytas,
for the price of a solid gold salakot (hat)- traditional, wide-brimmed hat worn in the Philippines.
According to the legend, these ten chiefs and their families are the very ancestors of the entire Visayan
population.

This is the legend that has been celebrated yearly in the Ati-atihan festival since the late 1950s when it
became a part of the annual feast of the Santo Niño in Kalibo, Aklan

even though these legends might have been known for generations, the word maragtas itself was
unknown until it was used as the title of a book by Pedro Alcantara Monteclaro in 1907. (M1) He wrote
Maragtas in the Hiligaynon and Kinaray-á languages of Panay and the word maragtas was merely
intended to mean "history". To this day the word maragtas is known only in connection to his book.