6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Finally, appellant recruited seven persons, or more than the minimum of three persons required by law, for illegal recruitment to be considered in large scale. Verily, the RTC and the CA correctly found the appellant guilty of large scale illegal recruitment. Section 7 of RA 8042 provides for the penalties for illegal recruitment in large scale as follows: SEC. 7. PENALTIES xxxx (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 x x x committed by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority. In the case at bar, we note that the RTC, as affirmed by the CA, imposed the penalty of life imprisonment in each of the seven cases. Considering however our finding that the offense involved is illegal recruitment in large scale, it being committed against three or more persons, the penalty of life imprisonment shall apply collectively to all seven cases lumped together, and not individually. The same is true with the accompanying penalty of fine; it must likewise be imposed collectively on all seven cases lumped together, not individually. However, instead of fine of P500,000.00, the amount should be increased to P1 million, or the maximum amount of fine considering that appellant was a non-licensee or non-holder of authority.[17] However, the trial court as affirmed by the CA, correctly ordered appellant to reimburse to each private complainant the amount she respectively received from each of them, save for Elsie Pelipog who should be reimbursed the amount of P12,500.00 as stated in the Information and proved during trial, and not P12,000.00 as stated in the RTC Joint Decision. WHEREFORE, the appeal is DISMISSED. The March 19, 2014 Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R CR. HC No. 00179 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION that appellant Gilda Abellanosa is found GUILTY of illegal recruitment in large scale and is sentenced to suffer the penalty of life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P1 million, and to reimburse Elsie Pelipog the amount of P12,500.00 instead of P12,000.00 SO ORDERED. Sereno, C.J., (Chairperson), Leonardo-De Castro, Perlas-Bernabe, and Caguioa, JJ., concur. [1] CA rollo, pp. 194-212; penned by Associate Justice Ma. Luisa C. Quijano-Padilla and concurred in by Associate Justices Ramon Paul L. Hernando and Carmelita SalandananManahan. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/63211 8/9