5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly placement of workers. These acts, to our mind, constitute illegal recruitment. There is illegal recruitment when one who does not possess the necessary authority or license gives the impression of having the ability to send a worker abroad. Corollarily, where the offense is committed against three or more persons, as in this case, it is qualified to illegal recruitment in large scale which provides a higher penalty under Article 39(a) of the Labor Code. Estafa We point out that conviction under the Labor Code for illegal recruitment does not preclude punishment under the Revised Penal Code for the crime of estafa.[4] We are convinced that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that appellant violated Article 315(2)(a) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, which provides that estafa is committed by any person who defrauds another by using a fictitious name; or by falsely pretending to possess power, influence, qualifications, property, credit, agency, business; by imaginary transactions or similar forms of deceit executed prior to or simultaneous with the fraud.[5] The appellant’s act of falsely pretending to possess power and qualifications to deploy the complainants to Hongkong, even if he did not have the authority or license for the purpose, undoubtedly constitutes estafa under Article 315(2)(a) of the Revised Penal Code. The elements of deceit and damage are clearly present; the appellant’s false pretenses were the very cause that induced the complainants to part with their money. Penalties The CA correctly imposed the penalty for illegal recruitment in large scale. As regards the penalties imposed in the crime of estafa, Article 315 of the RPC provides that an accused found guilty of estafa shall be sentenced to the penalty of prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period, if the amount of the fraud is over 12,000 but does not exceed 22,000 pesos, and if such amount exceeds the latter sum, the penalty provided in this paragraph shall be imposed in its maximum period, adding one year for each additional 10,000 pesos. Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum term is taken from the penalty next lower or anywhere within prision correccional minimum and medium (i.e., from 6 months and 1 day to 4 years and 2 months). On the other hand, the maximum term is taken from the prescribed penalty of prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum in its maximum period, adding 1 year of imprisonment for every P10,000.00 in excess of P22,000.00, provided that the total penalty shall not exceed 20 years. Applying these principles to the present case, the maximum period of the prescribed penalty of prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum is not prision mayor minimum as apparently assumed by the RTC. To compute the maximum period of the prescribed penalty, prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum should be divided into three equal portions of time each of which portion shall be deemed to form one period in accordance with Article 65 of the RPC. Following this elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57046 3/5