6/7/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly for estafa as charged was in order. III Penalties The penalty for illegal recruitment committed in large scale, pursuant to Section 7(b) [30] of Republic Act No. 8042 (Migrant Workers' Act), is life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P500,000.00 nor more than P1,000,000.00. In light of the provision of the law, the CA patently erred in reducing the fine to P100,000.00. Hence, we hereby increase the fine to P500,000.00. Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code provides: Article 315 Swindling (estafa). - Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by: 1st. 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; but the total penalty which may be imposed shall not exceed twenty years, in such case, and in connection with the accessory penalties which may be imposed and for the purpose of the other provisions of this Code, the penalty shall be termed prision mayor or reclusion temporal, as the case may be. xxxx Inasmuch as the prescribed penalty is prision correccional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period, plus one year for each additional P10,000.00 over P22,000.00, provided that the total penalty shall not exceed 20 years, the penalty to be imposed on the accused-appellant should depend on the amount defrauded. We note that the RTC took into consideration only the sum of P40,000.00, and the CA concurred with the RTC thereon. Yet, the records reveal that Miparanum paid to the accusedappellant and her co-accused not only P40,000.00 but the aggregate sum of P54/700.00 (i.e., the P6,000.00 for the seaman's book, the additional P6,000.00 for the seaman's book, the P40,000.00 for placement fee, and P2,700 for his training certificate). The amount of P54,700.00 is the determinant of the penalty to be imposed. Pursuant to Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, the penalty prescribed for estafa in which the amount of the fraud is over P12,000.00 but does not exceed P22,000.00 is prision correctional in its maximum period to prision mayor in its minimum period (i.e., four years, two months and one day to eight years); if the amount of the fraud exceeds P22,000.00, the penalty thus prescribed shall be imposed in its maximum period, and one year shall be added for each additional P10,000.00 provided the total penalty imposed shall not exceed 20 years. Considering that the penalty does not consist of three periods, the prescribed penalty is divided into three equal portions, and each elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/61699 9/13