G.R. No. 200884, June 4, 2014
The People of the Philippines, Appellee, vs. Mildred Salvatierra y Matuco, Appellant.

FACTS

Appellant Mildred Salvatierra was charged with Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale (Criminal Case No. MC04-8838) for recruiting and promising employment in Korea to eight individuals (Reynaldo Andremesin, Otelio Florentino, Ruzzel Crisostomo, Ma. Reinaluz De Guzman, Arvin Ariguin, Lester Duyao, Rosalyn Fernandez, and Renante Quirao, Jr.) for fees ranging from ₱49,500 to ₱97,000 without the required DOLE license or authority, and failing to deploy them. She was also separately charged with eight counts of Estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code (Criminal Case Nos. MC05-9048 to 9055) for defrauding the same individuals through deceit. Appellant pleaded not guilty. The prosecution established that appellant represented herself as capable of deploying workers to South Korea, collected fees, issued receipts or petty cash vouchers, but failed to deploy the victims. An entrapment operation led by the NBI resulted in her arrest with marked money and fluorescent smudges. Appellant denied the charges, claiming she was also a victim of Llanesa Consultancy and signed documents only upon instruction of a certain Susan Carillo. The RTC convicted appellant of Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale and five counts of Estafa (for Crisostomo, Quirao, Fernandez, Duyao, and De Guzman), dismissing three estafa charges for insufficiency of evidence. The CA affirmed the conviction but modified the penalties, increasing the fine for illegal recruitment to ₱500,000 and adjusting the indeterminate sentences for estafa.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the appellant is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale and multiple counts of Estafa.

RULING

The Supreme Court affirmed the appellant’s conviction for Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale and five counts of Estafa, with modifications to the penalties. For Illegal Recruitment in Large Scale under R.A. 8042, the Court imposed life imprisonment and a fine of ₱500,000. The essential elements of illegal recruitment were present: appellant undertook recruitment activities without the necessary license/authority, and the offense was committed against three or more persons (eight complainants). For Estafa under Article 315(2)(a) of the Revised Penal Code, the Court found appellant guilty of defrauding five complainants through deceit. The penalties were modified according to the Indeterminate Sentence Law and the amount defrauded, imposing indeterminate sentences for each count, with the minimum within the range of prision correccional maximum to prision mayor minimum and the maximum within the range of prision mayor to reclusion temporal, depending on the amount. The Court also ordered appellant to indemnify each complainant the amounts defrauded: ₱83,500 to Crisostomo, ₱49,500 to Quirao, ₱64,000 to Fernandez, ₱57,500 to Duyao, and ₱83,500 to De Guzman.