illegal recruitment. It must be emphasized that Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale penalized under The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, a special law, is malum prohibitum and not malum in se. The criminal intent of the accused is not necessary and the fact alone that the accused violated the law warrants her conviction.[18] Accused-appellant next insists that she did not represent to complainants or to Officer Cabal that she has the capacity to send them for overseas employment. That when she asked Officer Cabal, then disguised as a job applicant, if she was applying, the vacancy is for chambermaid in Brunei, she was merely echoing some facts known to her but was not in any way giving Officer Cabal any false representation. We are not persuaded. Suffice it to say that an illegal recruiter need not expressly represent to the victim that she has the ability to send workers abroad. It is enough that she gives the impression of her ability to enlist workers for job placement abroad in order to induce them to tender payment of fees, as what accused-appellant had done to the complainants in this case.[19] Finally, it is doctrinal that the trial courts evaluation of the testimony of witnesses is accorded the highest respect, for the trial court has an untrammeled opportunity to observe directly the demeanor of a witness on the stand and, thus, to determine whether he or she is telling the truth.Such assessment is generally binding on this Court, except when the same has been reached arbitrarily; or when the trial court has overlooked, misunderstood or misapplied some facts or circumstances of weight and substance which could have affected the result of the case. Considering therefore the evidence extant on record, we fully agree with the trial court that accused-appellant, in conspiracy with the other accused in this case, engaged in a recruitment business which, as herein discussed, was illegal and in large scale. Section 7 of RA 8042 prescribes the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P500,000.00 nor more than P1,000,000.00 in cases where the illegal recruitment constitutes an offense involving economic sabotage. [20] Indeed, the alarming incidents of such nefarious crime rationalizes the imposition of severe penalties under the axiom that extreme situations require extreme remedies. WHEREFORE, the assailed Partial Decision of the trial court dated 18 August 1998 convicting accused-appellant Lourdes Gamboa aliasDes or Lourdes Gamboa y Golfe of Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale, sentencing her to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000.00, and ordering her to restitute the sums of money collected from the complainants in this case in the total amount of P179,970.00, is AFFIRMED.As for accused Bonifacio Mioza, Melba Mioza and Gloria Sarmiento, who until now have remained at large, let this case be ARCHIVED without prejudice to its reinstatement as soon as the accused shall have been apprehended and brought to the jurisdiction of the court. SO ORDERED. Mendoza, Quisumbing, Buena, and De Leon, Jr., JJ., concur.