That in or about and during the period comprised between August 5, 1992 and September 21,
1992, inclusive, in the City of Manila, Philippines, the said accused, conspiring and
confederating with three others whose true names, real identities and present whereabouts are
still unknown and helping one another, representing themselves to have the capacity to contract,
enlist and transport Filipino contract workers for employment abroad, did then and there wilfully
and unlawfully, for a fee, recruit and promise employment/job placement for abroad to the
following persons, namely: VICENTE REAS Y TISBE, JOSE NAVAL Y ESGUERRA, EFREN
PINEDA Y LARDIZAVAL, CARUSO ASTIBE Y LAYNESA, FERDINAND AVISO Y
ADIVISO, EDWARD CALARANAN Y ALHAMBRA, GREG ARIDA Y BEJASA, JESUS
ADEL Y HERNANDEZ, REYNALDO ARDAN Y STA. MARIA, RONALDO MENDOZA Y
OFIAZA AND ELENITA TRAJANO Y BARRIENTOS, without first having secured the
required license or authority from the Department of Labor.
Contrary to law.iii[3]
In the instant appeal, accused-appellant contends that the trial court has erred in finding her to be
the treasurer/cashier of Japs International Trading Corporation and to have been in connivance
with the other corporate officers in illegal recruitment activities instead of her being held to be
merely a low-key employee of the firm.
The appeal is bereft of merit.
Hardly controvertible were the declarations made by the prosecution witnesses who gave
detailed accounts on how appellant had dealt with each of the complainants. The Solicitor
General aptly described, indeed extensively, this evidence given by the witnesses before the trial
court; viz:
The prosecution presented the following witnesses, namely, Reynaldo Ardan, Ronaldo Mendoza,
Edward Calaranan, Elenita Trajano, Fernando Roque, Jose Naval, Vicente Reas, Caruso Astibe,
Francisco Sarmiento and Emmanuel Vasquez.
Reynaldo Ardan testified that sometime in March, 1992, he was informed by his sister-in-law,
Elenita Trajano, that she had a friend named Bing Domingo who worked at Japs International
Trading, an agency engaged in the recruitment of workers abroad (TSN, January 26, 1993, p. 4).
Sometime in July 1992, Ardan was accompanied by his sister-in-law to see Bing Domingo at the
office of Japs International Trading. He was informed by Bing Domingo that their company was
recruiting workers for the position of production staff or factory worker in Japan with a salary of
P55,000 a month. He was informed of the requirements such as passport, medical fee of P1,500
and placement fee of P35,000 (Ibid, pp. 4-5).
Ardan immediately filled up an application form and submitted his bio-data and a passport
picture. He also gave P1,500 to Bing Domingo for the medical fee (Ibid, p. 5).