The penalty next lower should be based on the penalty prescribed by the Code for the offense, without first considering any modifying circumstance attendant to the commission of the crime. The determination of the minimum penalty is left by law to the sound discretion of the court and it can be anywhere within the range of the penalty next lower without any reference to the periods into which it might be subdivided. The modifying circumstances are considered only in the imposition of the maximum term of the indeterminate sentence. The fact that the amounts involved in the instant case exceed P22,000.00 should not be considered in the initial determination of the indeterminate penalty; instead, that matter should be so taken as analogous to modifying circumstances in the imposition of the maximum term of the full indeterminate sentence. This interpretation of the law accords with the rule that penal laws should be construed in favor of the accused. Since the penalty prescribed by law for the estafa charge against accusedappellant is prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum, the penalty next lower would then be prision correccional minimum to medium. Thus, the minimum term of the indeterminate sentence should be anywhere within six (6) months and one (1) day to four (4) years and two (2) months while the maximum term of the indeterminate sentence should at least be six (6) years and one (1) day because the amounts involved exceeded P22,000.00, plus an additional one (1) year for each additional P10,000.00. Accordingly, the penalties imposed by the trial court should thus be modified In Crim. Case No.97-594 the amount involved is P43,000.00. Hence, the minimum penalty should be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional which is the maximum of the allowable minimum penalty of the indeterminate sentence. The maximum penalty should at least be six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days of prision mayor (the maximum prescribed by Art. 315) plus a period of two (2) years [one (1) year for each additional P10,000.00] for a total maximum period of eight (8) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days of prision mayor. The same penalty should also be imposed in Crim. Case No. 97602 where the amount involved is P50,000.00. In Crim. Case No. 97-597 the amount involved is P55,000.00. Again, the minimum penalty should also be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional. The maximum penalty should again be at least six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days ofprision mayor plus three (3) years (for each additional P10,000.00) or a total maximum period of nine (9) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days of prision mayor. Criminal Cases Nos. 97-598, 97-599, 97-600 and 97-601 involve the uniform amount of P75,000.00. The minimum penalty in each case should be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional. Each maximum penalty should be eleven (11) years, eight (8) months and twenty-one (21) days of prision mayor as the