received from them the aggregate total amount of ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE THOUSAND PESOS (P175,000.00), Philippine Currency, all to the damage and prejudice of the foregoing complainants in the total sum aforesaid. "Contrary to law.vi[6] Appellant pleaded not guilty to all the charges of illegal recruitment and estafa. The criminal cases filed were raffled off to two (2) branches of the Regional Trial Court of Benguet; later, however, the cases were consolidated at the instance of the prosecution. Parenthetically, appellant jumped bail pending trial but she was soon arrested by agents of the Criminal Investigation Service ("CIS"). The Evidence for the Prosecution. In Criminal Case No. 92-CR-1397 and Criminal Case No. 92-CR-1396 Francisco Labadchan, a 25-year-old employee in the Navy Base in Pacdal, Baguio City, was introduced to appellant by Crispin Perez. In September 1991, the two went to the house of Conchita Tagle at Kilometer 3, La Trinidad, Benguet, who was known to be recruiting workers for abroad. After Labadchan had expressed interest in applying for a job in Korea, Tagle told Labadchan to prepare P45,000.00, P30,000.00 of which was to be paid that month and the balance of P15,000.00 before his departure for abroad. Labadchan paid Tagle the amount of P30,000.00 on 23 September 1991. Appellant, in turn, received that amount when she went to La Trinidad to "brief" him. She told Labadchan that his flight would be on the 9th of October 1991 and that he should have paid by then the balance of P15,000.00 of the fees. He paid Tagle the P15,000.00 balance on 05 October 1991. When he requested her to make a receipt, Tagle included the amount in the old receipt for the P30,000.00 previously given. Appellant handed over to Labadchan some papers to fill up and gave last-minute instructions before she boarded a green-colored aircraft. On 08 October 1991, Labadchan and his wife went to Manila and stayed, as so instructed by Tagle, at the Prince Hotel near the terminal of the Dangwa bus company in Dimasalang, Manila. There, he met other people, among them, his co-complainant Arthur Juan. In the morning of 09 October 1991, Labadchan and the others were told to go to the airport with Tagle, where appellant was supposed to give the travel papers including passports and plane tickets for Korea. At the airport, however, appellant told the group that their flight had been re-scheduled for 11 October 1991. Labadchan returned to Baguio City. On 11 October 1991, Labadchan returned to the airport only to be told this time, however, that his passport was still with the Department of Foreign Affairs. Appellant told her husband to accompany Labadchan to the Foreign Affairs office. When Labadchan received the passport, he saw that while his picture appeared on it, the passport was made out in the name of a person from Negros Occidental. Labadchan had to imitate the signature on the passport just so he could get it. Back at the airport, he was allowed inside the terminal but only to be later sent out because the ticket he had was one intended for passage from Korea and not to Korea. Asserting that he and