4/30/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly In Criminal Cases Nos. Q-96-66231 to Q-96-66233, since the penalty prescribed by law for the charge of estafa involving more than Twenty Two Thousand Pesos (P22,000.00), is prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum, the penalty next lower would be prision correccional minimum to medium. In accordance with our ruling in People v. Gabres, the minimum term of the indeterminate sentence would be anywhere within six (6) months and one day to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional while the maximum term of the indeterminate sentence would be at least six (6) years and one day of prision mayor plus an additional one year for each additional Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00), but the total penalty shall not exceed twenty (20) years; and the maximum term of the indeterminate sentence shall be prision mayor or reclusion temporal as the case may be. Hence, in Criminal Case No. Q-96-66231, where the amount involved is Sixty Five Thousand Pesos (P65,000.00), the minimum term of the indeterminate penalty should be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional (which is the maximum of the allowable minimum period of the indeterminate sentence) while the maximum term is at least six (6) years and one day of prision mayor plus an additional one year for each additional Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00), or a maximum term of ten (10) years and one day of prision mayor. In Criminal Case No. Q-96-66232, where the amount involved is One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00), the minimum term of the indeterminate penalty should be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional while the maximum term should be at least six (6) years and one day of prision mayor plus an additional one year for each additional Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00) or a maximum term of fourteen (14) years and one day of reclusion temporal. In Criminal Case No. Q-96-66233, where the amount involved is One Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (P150,000.00), the minimum term of the indeterminate penalty should be reduced to four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional while the maximum term should be at least six (6) years and one day of prision mayor plus an additional one year for each additional Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00) or a maximum term of eighteen (18) years and one day of reclusion temporal. WHEREFORE, the assailed Joint Decision of the Regional trial court of Quezon City, Branch 103 in Criminal Cases Nos. Q-96-66231 to Q-96-66234 is AFFIRMED with the following modifications: (1) In Criminal Case No. Q-96-66231 (for estafa involving Sixty Thousand Pesos [P60,000.00]), the accused-appellant is sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional, as minimum, to ten (10) years and one (1) day of prision mayor, as maximum. (2) In Criminal Case No. Q-96-66232 (for estafa involving One Hundred Thousand Pesos [P100,000.00]), the accused-appellant is sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of four (4) years and two (2) months of prision correccional, as minimum, to https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/52399 9/12