xxx "that Elizabeth Ramos Borromeo is his common-law wife and William Ramos is his brotherin-law. He denied being at the house of his brother-in-law at 1727 M. Natividad St., Sta. Cruz, Manila when the complainants were introduced to his common -law wife, neither was he present when the complainant allegedly gave money to Elizabeth Ramos Borromeo. He does not even know who prepared the receipts evidencing the amounts given to Elizabeth Ramos Borromeo. In other words, he was not a privy to all the transactions that allegedly transpired between the complainants and his common-law wife in the house of his brother-in-law. He further testified that if at all the name ER Borromeo appears in any or all the receipts prepared by Elizabeth Ramos Borromeo, it is not his name because his complete name is Ernesto Abeso Borromeo. His initial is E.A. Borromeo and the latter initial is what appears in all the receipts presented by the complainants during the direct and cross-examinations. He came to know the complainants only when they went to their house at 27 Maamo St., Sikatuna Village, Diliman, Quezon City accompanied by his brother-in-law, William Ramos. All the time he stayed at home taking care of their two children and his fighting cocks. xxx Queried on how he was arrested, he answered that he was only invited by the NBI because of the problem of his wife. Several warrants of arrest were issued against his wife but when she could not be located because she was already in hiding, he was detained. Appellant declared that he cannot refund the money and the money was not given to me. "(TSN, pp. 2-20, May 4, 1994)xiii[13] After trial, the lower court found the evidence for the prosecution enough to convict and handed down the judgment appealed from, convicting and sentencing the accused as follows: "WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered convicting the accused of the crime of illegal recruitment in Crim. Cases No. 94-129347 and of estafa in Crim Case No. 93-129376 to 93129384 and sentences him to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P100,000.00 in the illegal recruitment case as provided for by Art. 38 (b) and Art. 39 of the Labor Code as amended by P.D. 2018; and in other cases sentences him to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of Two (2) years and Four(4) months of prision correctional as the minimum and Eight (8) years of Prision mayor as the maximum except in cases 93-129376 and 93-129379 where the accused is sentenced in each case to an indeterminate term of imprisonment from Ten (10) years and One (1) day of prision mayor as minimum, and Seventeen (17) years, Four (4) months and One (1) day of reclusion temporal as maximum. The accused is also adjudged liable to the complainants in Crim. Cases No. 93-129376 to 93-129384 for estafa; to pay as civil liability the sum of P15,000.00 for each complainant except in Crim. Cases No. 93-129376 for each complainant except in Crim. Cases No. 93-129376 and 93-129379 where the accused is adjudged to pay P22,600.00 in each of the two cases (2) to the respective complainants thereof. Accused to pay the costs. The accused is acquitted in Case No. 129375 for lack of evidence. SO ORDERED."xiv[14] To buttress his plea for acquittal, appellant theorized in his assignment of errors, that: