The evidence has satisfactorily established that the complainants have not been reimbursed the full amount of their placement fees,
notwithstanding their persistent demands. Not a single peso of his placement fee was returned to Elmer Janer. Instead, on April 30, 1998,
the accused executed a promissory note (Exhibit K) in behalf of the Alvis Placement Service Corporation, undertaking to pay Elmer Janer
the amount of P75,000.00 on May 6, 1998. However, the amount covered by the promissory note was not paid (TSN, Sept. 7, 1999, p. 11).
On the other hand, although Eric Farol and Elmer Ramos were reimbursed of P11,000.00 and P5,000.00 in cash, respectively, and the
balance of their placement fees were covered by checks (Exhibits D-2 and G), these transactions did not relieve the accused of her criminal
liability. The reimbursement contemplated by paragraph (m) of Section 6 of Republic Act No. 8042 is full reimbursement of the expenses
incurred by the worker in connection with the documentation and processing of his deployment. To rule otherwise would be offensive to the
administration of justice, as illegal recruiters could easily escape criminal liability with impunity by simply returning an insignificant portion of
the amount they collected from the worker. The checks drawn and issued by the accused to these two complainants, however, did not
produce the effect of payment, for they were both dishonored by the drawee bank on the ground of closed account. Pursuant to the second
paragraph of Article 1249 of the Civil Code, "(t)he delivery of promissory notes payable to order, or bills of exchange or other mercantile
documents shall produce the effect of payment only when they have been cashed, or when through the fault of the creditor they have been
impaired."12
The appellant's bare denial of her involvement in the management, administration, control and operation of APSC cannot prevail over her judicial
admissions, the positive testimonies of the private complainants and the documentary evidence adduced by the prosecution.
Section 6 of Rep. Act No. 8042 provides that illegal recruitment shall be considered an offense involving economic sabotage if committed in large
scale, viz, committed against three (3) or more persons individually or as a group, the imposable penalty for which is life imprisonment and a fine of not
less than P500,000.00 nor more than P1,000,000.00.13 In this case, there are three private complainants, namely, Elmer Janer, Eric Farol and Elmer
Ramos. The trial court, thus, correctly convicted the appellant of large scale illegal recruitment and sentenced her to suffer life imprisonment.
IN LIGHT OF ALL THE FOREGOING, the appeal is DENIED. The Decision of the Regional Trial Court of Manila, Branch 35, is AFFIRMED. Costs
against the appellant.
SO ORDERED.
Puno, (Chairman), Quisumbing, Austria-Martinez, and Tinga, JJ., concur.
Footnotes
1
Penned by Judge Ramon P. Makasiar.
2
Records, p. 1.
3
Rollo, pp. 81-88.
4
Id. at 53-56.
5
Records, p. 227.
6
Rollo, pp. 56-57.
7
Otherwise known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
8
Id. at 353.
9
Records, p. 226.
10
354 SCRA 553 (2001).
11
Id. at 561-562.
12
Records, pp. 65-66.
13
Section 7(b), Republic Act No. 8042.