- Petitioner
- People
- Respondent
- Beth Temporada
- Citation
- G.R. No. 173473
- Court
- Supreme Court
- Division
- En Banc
- Ponente
- Ynares-Santiago, J.
- Decided
- December 17, 2008
Large scale illegal recruitment and multiple counts of estafa committed by recruitment agency employees who defrauded overseas employment applicants
Summary
The Supreme Court En Banc affirmed the conviction of Beth Temporada for large scale illegal recruitment and five counts of estafa. Temporada, posing as General Manager of ATTC, conspired with co-accused to recruit five complainants for overseas employment without proper POEA authorization, collecting placement fees totaling P351,680.00. The Court established that illegal recruitment in large scale requires: (1) lack of valid license, (2) recruitment activities under Labor Code Article 13(b), and (3) victimization of three or more persons. The decision extensively discussed proper application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law for estafa cases, reaffirming the People v. Gabres doctrine for computing incremental penalties while rejecting proposed alternative formulas. The Court emphasized that illegal recruitment is malum prohibitum, making criminal intent unnecessary for conviction, and that employees can be held liable as principals if they actively participate in illegal recruitment activities.