583 Phil. 677
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
Criminal Case No. 3261-M-2001:Zenchiro and Eva were, in Informations also filed before the same court where they were docketed as Criminal Cases No. 3262-M-2001, 3263-M-2001, and 3264-M-2001, likewise charged to have conspired in committing three counts of estafa under Article 315, paragraph 2 (a) of the Revised Penal Code as follows:
x x x x
That in or about the month of January, 1999, in the municipality of Meycauayan, province of Bulacan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, conspiring and helping each other, non-licensees or non-holders of authority from the Department of Labor and Employment to recruit and/or place workers in employment either locally or overseas, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, with false pretenses, undertake illegal recruitment and placement for a fee of Alberto M. Anatalio, Fredie[1] P. Ocampo and Alicia A. Diaz for overseas employment.[2] (Underscoring supplied)
Criminal Case No. 3262-M-2001:Zenchiro pleaded not guilty to all the charges on arraignment.[6] Eva has remained at large.
That on or about the 2nd day of February, 1999, in the municipality of Meycauayan, province of Bulacan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, conspiring and helping each other, with intent of gain, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously defraud Alberto M. Anatalio and Fredie P. Ocampo in the sum of P50,000.00 each, by then and there misrepresenting that they have the power and qualification to recruit and employ the said Alberto M. Anatalio and Fredie P. Ocampo as worker[s] or assist them in securing employment abroad, more particularly in Japan, and could facilitate the processing and approval of the necessary papers in connection therewith, when in truth and in fact, as they well knew, they did not have such qualifications, that pursuant to such misrepresentation and defraudation, said accused demanded and received from Alberto M. Anatalio and Fredie P. Ocampo the sum of P50,000.00 each; that said accused failed and refused to comply with their aforementioned undertakings and instead, misappropriated the sum of P50,000.00 each, for their benefit, to the damage and prejudice of the said Alberto M. Anatalio and Fredie P. Ocampo, in the total amount of P100,000.00.[3] (Underscoring supplied)
Criminal Case No. 3263-M-2001:
That on or about the 10th of March, 1999, in the municipality of Meycauayan, province of Bulacan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, conspiring and helping each other, with intent of gain, did then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously defraud one Alicia A. Diaz in the sum of P10,000.00, by then and there misrepresenting that they have the power and qualification to recruit and employ the said Alicia A. Diaz as worker or assist her in securing employment abroad, more particularly in Japan, and could facilitate the processing and approval of the necessary papers in connection therewith, when in truth and in fact, as they well knew, they did not have such qualifications; that pursuant to such misrepresentation and defraudation, said accused demanded and received from Alicia A. Diaz the sum of P10,000.00; that said accused failed and refused to comply with their aforementioned undertakings and instead, misappropriated the sum of P10,000.00 for their benefit, to the damage and prejudice of the said Alicia A. Diaz in the said amount of P10,000.00.[4] (Underscoring supplied)
Criminal Case No. 3264-M-2001:
That on or about the 12th of March, 1999, in the municipality of Meycauayan, province of Bulacan, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, conspiring and helping each other, with intent of gain, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously defraud one Alicia A. Diaz in the sum of P40,000.00, by then and there misrepresenting that they have the power and qualification to recruit and employ the said Alicia A. Diaz as worker or assist her in securing employment abroad, more particularly in Japan, and could facilitate the processing and approval of the necessary papers in connection therewith, when in truth and in fact, as they well knew they did not have such qualifications, that pursuant to such misrepresentation and defraudation, said accused demanded and received from Alicia A. Diaz the sum of P40,000.00; that said accused failed and refused to comply with their aforementioned undertakings and instead, misappropriated the sum of P40,000.00 for their benefit, to the damage and prejudice of the said Alicia A. Diaz in the said amount of P40,000.00.[5] (Underscoring supplied)
When the three (3) complainants went to the residence of the Regino's at Sto. Niño, Meycauayan on different occasions, in the early part of January 1999, and the matter of their supposed employment in Japan was taken up Zenchiro was personally present. Regino did much of the talking but as testified to by the complainants she talked with Zenchiro in Nippongo, every now and then ostensibly to apprise him of what was being talked about. Foremost was the representation by Regino, which Zenchiro appears to have acquiesced into, that he was in a position to find work for the complainants in Japan. On this point, Zenchiro's own admission that he offered his own services to work for complainants' Japanese visa was a dead giveaway on his part of his active involvement in the illicit recruitment of the latter to work in Japan. xxx This coupled with the uncontroverted fact that he even escorted the complainants in going to Japan in the months of June, 1999 and January 2000 even living under the same house with Anatalio and Ocampo therein make a strong case against him for the offense charged.The trial court thus disposed:
That the complainants were duped into shelling large amounts for fictitious employment in Japan has been convincingly shown. All three (3) were categorical in their assertion that the accused demanded, and received, from each of them the amount of P250,000.00 as placement fee, adducing receipts in substantiation of these exactions. In the case of Anatalio and Ocampo, the two (2) were uncontradicted in their claim that, on February 2, 1999, both gave P50,000.00 each to Regino as initial payment of their supposed placement fee in the presence of Zenchiro, and on this occasion, the latter told them that he would take care of their papers. Two (2) days later, before their departure to Japan or on June 24, 1999, Florinda "Bong" Cadorna handed over to Zenchiro P400,000.00 duly receipted by the latter who even signed his name in Japanese character[s].
The same situation holds true with Diaz. In her case on March 10, 1999, she gave Regino the initial amount of P10,000.00 in her place at Sto. Niño, Meycauayan, Bulacan and two (2) days later or on March 12, 1999, she gave her the additional amount of P40,000.00 as downpayment for her replacement fee. After her visa was issued, on December 20, 1999 she gave the amount of P100,000.00 in cash and a check worth P100,000.00 to Zenchiro personally xxx to complete her employment fee. xxx This transaction between Diaz and the accused is fully substantiated by the receipt dated December 20, 1999 signed by Zenchiro again in Japanese characters. Although Zenchiro made it appear in said receipt that the payment was for visa assistance, the enormity of the amount does not warrant belief to such a pretension[.]
Zenchiro's attempt to show that complainants worked in different firms in Japan is futile. All that he has to show to prove his point are purported certifications from dubious Japanese firms attesting to their supposed employment which from the mere fact that these are written in Japanese characters without any official translation in English hardly deserve any evidentiary value[.]
With the Certification from the POEA that the accused are not licensed to recruit workers either for local and foreign employment, both stand liable for qualified illegal recruitment in large scale under the provisions of the Labor Code, the same having been committed against three (3) persons.[22] (Citations omitted; underscoring supplied)
WHEREFORE, in Criminal Case No. 3261-M-2001, this Court finds the accused Fujita Zenchiro GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale defined and penalized under Article 38 (b) in relation to Articles 34 and 39 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, P.D. No. 442, as amended and hereby sentences him to suffer the penalty of Life Imprisonment and a fine of P100,000.00. Accused is likewise ordered to pay the private complainants the following amounts as actual damages, to wit:On appeal to the Court of Appeals, Zenchiro assigned to the trial court the following errors:In Criminal Case No. 3263-M-2001, this Court finds the accused Fujita Zenchiro GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of Estafa under Art. 315, par. 2(a) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended and hereby sentences him to a prison term ranging from four (4) months and Twenty (20) days of Arresto Mayor, as minimum, up to Two (2) years, Eleven (11) months and Ten (10) days of prision correccional, as maximum and to pay Alicia Diaz the amount of P10,000.00 as actual damages.
- P250,000.00 to Alberto Anatalio;
- P250,000.00 to Freddie Ocampo; and
- P250,000.00 to Alicia Diaz.
In Criminal Case No. 3264-M-2001, this Court finds the accused Fujita Zenchiro GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt of Estafa under Art. 315 par. 2(a) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended and hereby sentences him to a prision term ranging from Four (4) Years, Nine (9) months and Eleven (11) days of prision correccional, as minimum, up to Six (6) years, Eight (8) months, and one (1) day of prision mayor as maximum and to pay Alicia Diaz the amount of P40,000.00 as actual damages.
Criminal Case No. 3262-M-2001 is hereby DISMISSED.
The cases against Eva Regino are hereby ARCHIVED.
SO ORDERED.[23] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
. . . CONVICTING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT FOR THE CRIME OF LARGE SCALE ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT DESPITE THE FAILURE OF THE PROSECUTION TO PROVE BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT THAT HIS ACT OF SECURING COMPLAINANTS' JAPANESE VISAS IS UNDER THE TERM "RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT".The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision,[25] hence, Zenchiro's appeal to this Court.[26]II
. . . FINDING THE ACCUSED-APPELLANT GUILTY FOR THE CRIME OF ESTAFA DESPITE FAILURE OF THE PROSECUTION TO PROVE BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT THAT THERE WAS DECEPTION ON HIS PART.[24]
In the first place, appellant during his arraignment even assented to the reading of the information in Filipino because according to his counsel it is a language known and understood by him. And as testified to by the private complainants, appellant even spoke to them in broken Tagalog when he was promising them employment in Japan upon payment of placement fee to him and his co-accused Regino. Private complainant Diaz also testified that during their conversation regarding the proposed employment in Japan, while it was Regino who was explaining things to them, Regino would first talk to appellant in Japanese and hence appellant cannot feign ignorance of the dealings and undertakings by Regino with private complainants. Appellant knew and cooperated in the misrepresentations and fraudulent scheme of Regino as they both duped private complainants into shelling substantial amounts of money for those promised jobs as factory workers in Japan.[28] (Underscoring supplied)In fine, Zenchiro's disclaimer of the charges fails.
Article 315. Swindling (estafa). - Any person who shall defraud another by any of the means mentioned hereinbelow shall be punished by:Applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum of the penalty should be taken from the range of the penalty next lower in degree to that prescribed under the Revised Penal Code. In this case, the penalty next lower in degree is prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods. This Court imposes a minimum penalty of two years of prision correccional.
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 pesos but does not exceed 22,000 pesos; and if such amounts 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 cases, 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. (Underscoring supplied)
Minimum period - four years, two months, and one day to five years, five months, and ten days.Following the above-quoted portion of the provision of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, the maximum term of the penalty imposed by the trial court in Criminal Case No. 3264-M-2001 should be increased by one year.
Medium period - five years, five months, and 11 days to six years, eight months, and 20 days
Maximum period - six years, eight months and 21 days to eight years.[30]