4/29/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly perpetrated; or from the acts of the accused evincing a joint or common purpose and design, concerted action and community of interest.[32] It is equally clear from the narration of private complainants that appellants, together with Azul, conspired to commit the crime of illegal recruitment. Azul referred all private complainants to Tendenilla, who made representations that she could deploy them abroad. It was either Azul or Tendenilla who received the payment of placement fees. And as previously stated, Rea met some of the complainants at the training center, and accompanied some of them while in Thailand. Their actions showed unity of purpose and, taken all together, leave no doubt that they are co-conspirators. We reiterate the findings of the Court of Appeals, to wit: In the case at bar, it cannot be doubted that both accused-appellants indispensably cooperated and coordinated in illegally recruiting the private complainants. From the evidence, it can be seen that the success of the scheme depended on accused-appellants’ joint efforts. Estrellita Tendenilla directly dealt with the private complainants, promising them employment, demanding money from them, conducting dubious trainings, and sending them to Thailand. Maria Jenny Rea, on the other hand, covered the next phase of the process, that is, travelling with the private complainants to Thailand, bringing them to the border of Thailand and Malaysia, securing their fraudulent non-immigrant visas, and accompanying them back to the Philippines.[33] Based on the foregoing, appellants were correctly found guilty of large scale illegal recruitment tantamount to economic sabotage. Under Section 7(b) of Republic Act No. 8042,[34] the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P500,000.00 nor more than P1,000,000.00 shall be imposed if illegal recruitment constitutes economic sabotage. Thus, the trial court, as affirmed by the appellate court, is correct in imposing the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of P500,000.00 for each of the appellants. WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CR-HC No. 03178 affirming the trial court’s conviction of appellants Maria Jenny Rea y Guevarra and Estrellita Tendenilla for large scale illegal recruitment is AFFIRMED. SO ORDERED. Brion,* (Acting Chairperson), Del Castillo, Perlas-Bernabe, and Leonen,** JJ., concur. * Per Special Order No. 1460 dated 29 May 2013. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/55927 21/23