in inducing said private complainants to give and deliver, as in fact private complainants delivered sums of money to appellant and his wife, the latter
well knowing that their representations were false and fraudulent and were made solely to obtain sums of money from private complainants, which
money, once in their possession, they misappropriated, misapplied and converted to their own personal use and benefit, to the damage and prejudice
of the private complainants.
Upon arraignment, appellant pleaded not guilty to the foregoing charges. Trial ensued. Accused Miranda Alzona remains at-large.
The facts of the case, as established by the prosecution, are as follows.
Private complainant Mario Regino Decena came to know of appellant because a friend of his, Goring Rodil, was able to work abroad through the
facilitation of appellant. Decena met appellant at the latter’s house at 1532 Hizon St., Sta. Cruz, Manila, where appellant asked him to
prepare P38,000.00, inclusive of the P1,000.00 for the passport, so he can leave within one month. Said amount was supposed to pay for his fare
going to Korea where appellant said he would be employed as a factory worker with a monthly salary of $450.00. Both appellant and Miranda
convinced him to apply for work abroad. He then paid the P1,000.00 for the passport and on February 10, 1992, he paid another P33,000.00, received
by appellant himself. The latter refused to give him a receipt for the amounts he paid. Despite having paid the total of P34,000.00, appellant failed to
send him to work in Korea and also failed to return his money. 2
Another private complainant, Leonardo Mercurio, also went to appellant’s house in Sta. Cruz, Manila and applied to appellant and his wife for work
abroad. Mercurio and his brother-in-law, Fernando Dela Cruz, were accompanied by Decena who had also applied to the spouses Alzona for overseas
work. Mercurio talked mainly to appellant’s wife, Miranda, in the presence of appellant. She asked him to pay P1,000.00 for the passport. Appellant
was seated around the same table where he and Miranda were talking. Appellant and Miranda asked Mercurio and his brother-in-law to
pay P20,000.00 each on March 30, 1992. Thus, on March 30, 1992, Mercurio delivered to appellant the amount of P20,000.00 and despite his request
for a receipt, appellant refused to issue one. The total fees being asked for by appellant was P38,000.00. After receiving the P20,000.00, appellant
reminded Mercurio to pay the balance so he can depart within a week for Korea where appellant promised him employment as a factory worker with a
monthly salary of at least $450.00. Appellant instructed Mercurio to buy an attaché case and a coat and tie. Mercurio was not able to depart by the first
week of April as promised by appellant but he continued to follow-up his application. Sometime in July of 1992, Mercurio became impatient and
demanded from appellant for the return of his money. On August 21, 1992, Mercurio filed a complaint with the police against appellant.3
Private complainant Fernando Dela Cruz corroborated the testimony of Mercurio on all material points. On some of the occasions that he and Mercurio
followed-up their applications, Dela Cruz talked to appellant himself who would always tell him to prepare because they will soon be leaving for Korea.
The last time they went to appellant’s house, the Barangay Captain of the place informed them that appellant had already been apprehended. 4
Private complainant James Mazon had a similar experience with appellant and Miranda. After having heard that appellant and Miranda were accepting
applicants for employment abroad, Mazon went to appellant’s residence during the first week of January, 1992. Appellant and Miranda promised that
he would be deployed to Korea where he will be employed as a factory worker. He was told to pay the placement fee of P38,000.00 inclusive of
charges for the passport. Appellant told Mazon that he was in-charge of booking and procuring tickets, while Miranda was the one who made
arrangements with regard to the application for a job abroad. On January 10, 1992, he gave P15,000.00 to appellant who did not issue a receipt. Upon
receiving such partial payment, appellant promised him that he would be deployed within one to two months. He was never deployed to Korea and he
heard from the other private complainants who were also from Mulanay, Quezon, that appellant was already in jail. 5
Risa Balverde, a Licensure Officer III of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) testified that appellant was neither licensed nor
authorized by the POEA to recruit workers for overseas employment. 6
For his defense, appellant merely denied that he ever met, talked to or received money from the aforementioned four private complainants; nor had he
been involved in illegal recruitment. He presented the alibi that he, being a jeepney driver, was out of their house everyday from 7 o’ clock in the
morning to around 9 o’clock in the evening, so private complainants could not have talked to him at his house at 1532 Hizon St., Sta. Cruz, Manila. He,
however, admitted that in 1989, he found out that his wife was engaged in recruiting workers for abroad. In fact, his wife had been going back and forth
to Korea around six times a year since 1990, to accompany people. He stopped being a jeepney driver on July 15, 1992, because so many people
were going to their house.7
Appellant’s daughter, Marites Alzona, corroborated her father’s testimony that he is a jeepney driver and is out of their house everyday from 6 o’clock
in the morning to 10 o’clock in the evening, and therefore, private complainants could not have met her father. She admitted that she had seen private
complainants talking to her mother at their house beginning August 1991 but she was unaware as to what their purpose was for coming to their house.
She would see them at their house around four times a month, but the last time she saw them was in July 1992. Her mother left for Korea on July 15,
1992 and thereafter, every time private complainants would come looking for her mother, she would be the one to talk to them. When she told them
that her mother had left for Korea, private complainants became angry. On August 5, 1992, she and her father were arrested at their house.8
Appellant’s sister, Esther Panday, testified that she owns the jeepney being driven by appellant everyday, twelve hours a day. Such being the case,
she believed appellant could not have engaged in any other sideline such as recruiting workers for abroad. 9
After both parties had rested their case, the trial court rendered judgment,10 the dispositive portion of which read as follows:
WHEREFORE, this court finds the accused Mario Alzona GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of Illegal Recruitment in large scale in Criminal
Case No. 92-113702 and of four (4) separate crimes of estafa in Criminal Cases Nos. 92-113706, 92-113707, 92-113708 and 92-113709
and, as a consequence thereof, sentences him as follows:
(1) In Criminal Case No. 92-113702, to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P100,000.00; and