6/30/2021
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Furthermore, accused Sagisag Atlas "Paul" Bautista is ordered to indemnify
private complainant Rolando L. De Vera the amount of PI 15,000.00 with
twelve percent (12%) interest per annum starting from the filing of the
Information until the finality of the judgment.
4. In Criminal Case No. MC09-12517[,] the Court finds accused Sagisag
Atlas "Paul" Bautista GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of
illegal recruitment in large scale, as defined under Section 6 of R.A. 8042
and is hereby sentenced to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine
of P500,000.00 pursuant to Section 7 of R.A. 8042.
5. Considering that the prosecution failed to adduce any evidence in
Criminal
Case
Nos.
MC09-12512,
MC09-12513,
MC09-12514,
MC09-12516, MC09-12518, MC09-12519, and MC09-12520, the
Court finds accused Sagisag Atlas "Paul" Bautista NOT GUILTY OF seven
(7) counts of Estafa as defined in Article 315 par. 2(a) of the Revised Penal
Code.
6.
Considering that the other two (2) accused, Arleth Buenconsejo and
Rosamel Cara De Guzman, are still at large and the court has not yet
acquired jurisdiction over their person, let alias warrants of arrest be issued
against them and let the records of the eleven (11) cases be ARCHIVED to
be revived upon their apprehension.
SO ORDERED.[15]
In finding accused-appellant Bautista guilty, the RTC found that the prosecution was
able to establish the requisites for a finding of estafa as committed against Randy,
Rolando, and Efren. It found that in Criminal Case No. MC09-12510, the prosecution
was able to prove that Randy did give him the money on the false promise of a job in
Korea, and that accused-appellant Bautista and the agency he represented failed to
deploy Randy as assured.[16]
The RTC also found in Criminal Case No. MC09-12511 that similar to Randy, Efren also
parted with a total of PI 51,000.00 after much persuasion from accused-appellant
Bautista and with the goal of employment in Korea, and that he also was not deployed
as promised.[17]
Finally, the same modus was also established in Criminal Case No. MC09-12515, where
Rolando was shown to have relied on the misrepresentations of accused-appellant
Bautista and paid a total of PI 15,000.00 for work deployment in Korea which never
materialized.[18]
On the other hand, the RTC exonerated accused-appellant Bautista in all the other
criminal cases[19] for estafa filed against him, considering that the private complainants
therein were not present before it for the substantiation of the allegations therein.[20]
With respect to the charge of illegal recruitment in violation of Section 6 of R.A. 8042,
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66754
10/20