PEOPLE vs.

TEMPORADA

Facts:

Accused Rosemarie "Baby" Robles, Bernadette Miranda, Nenita Catacotan and Jojo Resco and appellant Beth Temporada, all employees of the Alternative Travel and Tours Corporation (ATTC), recruited and promised overseas employment, for a fee, to complainants Rogelio Legaspi Jr, Soledad Atle, Luz Minkay, Evelyn Estacio and Dennis Dimaano. After complainants had submitted all the requirements consisting of their respective application forms, passports, NBI clearances and medical certificates, the accused and appellant, on different dates, collected and received from them placement fees in various amounts. As none of them was able to leave nor recover the amounts they had paid, complainant lodged separate criminal complaints against accused and appellant before the City Prosecutor of Manila. Assistant City Prosecutor Restituto Mangalindan, Jr. filed 6 Informations against the accused and appellant, one for Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale under Article 38 (a) of the Labor Code as amended, and the rest for 5 counts of estafa under Article 315 paragraph 2 (a) of the Revised Penal Code.

Issues:

- Whether the Appellant is guilty of Illegal Recruitment and Estafa; and - Whether the imposition of indeterminate penalties were properly applied.

Held:

To constitute illegal recruitment in large scale, 3 elements must concur: (a) the offender has no valid license or authority required by law to enable him to lawfully engage in recruitment and placement of workers; (b) the offender undertakes any of the activities within the meaning of "recruitment and placement" under Article 13(b) of the Labor Code, or any of the prohibited practices enumerated under Article 34 of the said Code (now Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042); and, (c) the offender committed the same against 3 or more persons, individually or as a group.

In the case at bar, the foregoing elements are present. Appellant, in conspiracy with her co-accused, misrepresented to have the power, influence, authority and business to obtain overseas employment upon payment of a placement fee which was duly collected from complainants.

Thus the Decision of the Court of Appeals is modified with respect to the indeterminate penalties imposed on appellant for the 5 counts of estafa. The accused is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 4 years and 2 months of prisin correccional as minimum, to 9 years, 8 months and 21 days of prisin mayor as maximum for the estafa committed against Legaspi. The accused is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 4 years and 2 months of prisin correccional as minimum, to 10 years, 8 months and 21 days of prisin mayor as maximum for each of the three estafa cases committed against Dimaano, Atte and Minkay. The accused is sentenced to an indeterminate penalty of 4 years and 2 months of prisin correccional as minimum, to 12 years, 8 months and 21 days of reclusin temporal as maximum for the estafa committed against Estacio.