SYLLABI/SYNOPSIS FIRST DIVISION [G.R. No. 120141. April 21, 1999] PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. LORNA B. GUEVARRA, JOSIE BEA and PEDRO BEA, JR., accused-appellants. DECISION PARDO, J.: The case before the Court is an appeal from a decisioni[1] of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 6, Legaspi City, convicting accused Lorna B. Guevarra, Josie Bea and Pedro Bea, Jr., of illegal recruitment by a syndicate in large scale, and sentencing all three accused to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of one hundred thousand (P100,000.00) each, and to indemnify each of the complainants, namely, Wilfredo Belbes, Ermelita Bocato, Rizalina Belbes, Alan Banico and Arnel Basaysay,ii[2] jointly and severally, the amount of thirty thousand pesos (P30,000.00) for the placement fees collected, and twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) as moral damages, and costs. On January 17, 1994, Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Ignacio N. Almodovar, Jr. of Albay charged Lorna B. Guevarra, Josie Bea and Pedro Bea, Jr. with illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate in large scale, as follows: "That sometime in August and September, 1993, at Barangay San Andres, Sto. Domingo, Albay and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the 3 (three) abovenamed accused conspiring, confederating and mutually helping one another for a common purpose did then and there, without any license or authority to do so, recruit WILFREDO BELBES Y BALLARES, ERMELITA BALBIN BOCATO, RIZALINA BELBES Y BALLARES, ALAN BANICO Y BELBES and ARNEL A. BAGAYSAY, all of Brgy. San Andres, Sto. Domingo, Albay for a job placement in Malaysia and received from the five victims P30,000.00 each as processing fee; that on September 25, 1993, the five recruits flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, expecting as per instruction of the accused, that somebody will fetch them at the airport and will bring them to their employer; that nobody fetched them as they did not have any employer in Malaysia which forced them to go back to the Philippines, to their damage and prejudice. CONTRARY TO LAW.iii[3] Upon arraignment on February 14, 1994,iv[4] all three accused entered a plea of not guilty. After due trial, on February 15, 1995, the court a quo rendered a decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows: