6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly The crime of illegal recruitment is penalized under Sections 6 and 7 of RA 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, to wit: SEC. 7. Penalties. (a) Any person found guilty of illegal recruitment shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day but not more than twelve (12) years and a fine of not less than Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) nor more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00). (b) The penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) nor more than One million pesos (P1,000,000.00) shall be imposed if illegal recruitment constitutes economic sabotage as defined herein. Provided, however, That the maximum penalty shall be imposed if the person illegally recruited is less than eighteen (18) years of age or committed by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority. As the crime was committed in large scale, it is an offense involving economic sabotage and is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P500,000.00 nor more than P1,000,000.00. The trial court, thus, aptly imposed the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000.00. The prescribed penalty for estafa under Article 315 of the RPC, is prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum, if the amount of the fraud is over P12,000.00 but does not exceed P22,000.00. If the amount exceeds P22,000.00, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period, adding one year for each additional P10,000.00, provided that the total penalty shall not exceed twenty (20) years. Since the amount defrauded exceeded P22,000.00, the penalty shall be imposed in its maximum period which is six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days to eight (8) years. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term shall be within the range of the penalty next lower to that prescribed by the RPC, or anywhere within prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods or six (6) months and one (1) day to four (4) years and two (2) months. Thus, in this case, the minimum term to be imposed should be four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional. The maximum term, on the other hand, shall be that which could be properly imposed under the rules of the RPC, which in this case shall be six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days to eight (8) years. The incremental penalty shall be added to the maximum period of the prescribed penalty, which is anywhere between six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days to eight (8) years. While there were several evidence formally offered during trial, only Exhibit "A,"[56] elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63140 14/18