6/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly total penalty which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years. In such cases, and in connection with the accessory penalties which may be imposed under the provisions of this Code, the penalty shall be termed prision mayor or reclusion temporal, as the case may be. It was established by evidence that in Criminal Case No. 98-77301, Gubat was defrauded by Ochoa in the amount of P15,000.00; in Criminal Case No. 77-98302, Cesar paid Ochoa the sum of P17,000.00; and in Criminal Case No. 77-98303, Agustin handed over to Ochoa a total of P28,000.00. The prescribed penalty for estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, when the amount of the fraud is over P12,000.00 but not exceeding P22,000.00, is prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum (i.e., from 4 years, 2 months and 1 day to 8 years). If the amount of fraud exceeds P22,000.00, the aforementioned 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 20 years. Under the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term shall be within the range of the penalty next lower to that prescribed by the Revised Penal Code, or anywhere within prision correccional minimum and medium (i.e., from 6 months and 1 day to 4 years and 2 months).[57] Consequently, the minimum terms in Criminal Case Nos. 9877301 and 98-77302 were correctly fixed by the RTC and affirmed by the Court of Appeals at 2 years, 11 months, and 11 days of prision correccional. While the minimum term in Criminal Case No. 98-77303 was increased by the Court of Appeals to 4 years and 2 months of prision correccional, it is still within the range of the penalty next lower to that prescribed by Section 315 of the Revised Penal Code. The maximum term under the Indeterminate Sentence Law shall be that which, in view of attending circumstances, could be properly imposed under the rules of the Revised Penal Code. To compute the minimum, medium, and maximum periods of the prescribed penalty for estafa when the amount of fraud exceeds P12,000.00, the time included in prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum shall be divided into three equal portions, with each portion forming a period. Following this computation, the minimum period for prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum is from 4 years, 2 months, and 1 day to 5 years, 5 months, and 10 days; the medium period is from 5 years, 5 months, and 11 days to 6 years, 8 months, and 20 days; and the maximum period is from 6 years, 8 months, and 21 days to 8 years. Any incremental penalty (i.e., 1 year for every P10,000.00 in excess of P22,000.) shall thus be added to anywhere from 6 years, 8 months, and 21 days to 8 years, at the discretion of the court, provided that the total penalty does not exceed 20 years.[58] In Criminal Case Nos. 98-77301 and 98-77302, the amounts of fraud were more than P12,00.00 but not exceeding P22,000.00, and in the absence of any mitigating or aggravating circumstance, the maximum term shall be taken from the medium period of the penalty prescribed (i.e., 5 years, 5 months, and 11 days to 6 years, 8 months, and 20 days). Thus, the maximum terms of 6 years, 8 months, and 20 days actually imposed by the RTC and affirmed by the Court of Appeals in Criminal Case Nos. 98elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/26427 18/23