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The crime of Simple Illegal Recruitment is defined and penalized under Sec. 6 of Republic Act. No. 8042, which reads:
SEC. 6. Definition. - For purposes of this Act, illegal recruitment shall mean any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring, or procuring workers and includes referring, contract services, promising or advertising for employment abroad, whether for profit or not, when undertaken by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority contemplated under Article 13(f) of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines: Provided, That any such non-licensee or non-holder who, in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two or more persons shall be deemed so engaged. It shall likewise include the following acts, whether committed by any person, whether a non-licensee, non-holder, licensee or holder of authority:
(a) To charge or accept directly or indirectly any amount greater than that specified in the schedule of allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, or to make a worker pay any amount greater than that actually received by him as a loan or advance;
(b) To furnish or publish any false notice or information or document in relation to recruitment or employment;
(c) To give any false notice, testimony, information or document or commit any act of misrepresentation for the purpose of securing a license or authority under the Labor Code;
(d) To induce or attempt to induce a worker already employed to quit his employment in order to offer him another unless the transfer is designed to liberate a worker from oppressive terms and conditions of employment;
(e) To influence or attempt to influence any person or entity not to employ any worker who has not applied for employment through his agency;
(f) To engage in the recruitment or placement of workers in jobs harmful to public health or morality or to the dignity of the Republic of thePhilippines ;
(g) To obstruct or attempt to obstruct inspection by the Secretary of Labor and Employment or by his duly authorized representative;
(h) To fail to submit reports on the status of employment, placement vacancies, remittance of foreign exchange earnings, separation from jobs, departures and such other matters or information as may be required by the Secretary of Labor and Employment;
(i) To substitute or alter to the prejudice of the worker, employment contracts approved and verified by the Department of Labor and Employment from the time of actual signing thereof by the parties up to and including the period of the expiration of the same without the approval of the Department of Labor and Employment;
(j) For an officer or agent of a recruitment or placement agency to become an officer or member of the Board of any corporation engaged in travel agency or to be engaged directly or indirectly in the management of a travel agency;
(k) To withhold or deny travel documents from applicant workers before departure for monetary or financial considerations other than those authorized under the Labor Code and its implementing rules and regulations;
(l) Failure to actually deploy without valid reason as determined by the Department of Labor and Employment ; and
(m) Failure to reimburse expenses incurred by the worker in connection with his documentation and processing for purposes of deployment, in cases where the deployment does not actually take place without the worker's fault. Illegal recruitment when committed by a syndicate or in large scale shall be considered an offense involving economic sabotage.
Illegal recruitment is deemed committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another. It is deemed committed in large scale if committed against three (3) or more persons individually or as a group.
The persons criminally liable for the above offenses are the principals, accomplices and accessories. In case of juridical persons, the officers having control, management or direction of their business shall be liable.
Art. 315, par. 2(a) of the Revised Penal Code, on the other hand, enumerates one of the modes of committing estafa, thus:
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2. By means of any of the following false pretenses or fraudulent acts executed prior to or simultaneously with the commission of the fraud:
(a) By using fictitious name, or falsely pretending to possess power, influence, qualifications, property, credit, agency, business or imaginary transactions, or by means of other similar deceits.
Illegal recruitment is committed when two essential elements concur:
(1) that the offender has no valid license or authority required by law to enable him to lawfully engage in the recruitment and placement of workers, and
(2) that the offender undertakes any activity within the meaning of “recruitment and placement” defined under Article 13(b), or any prohibited practices enumerated under Article 34 of the Labor Code.[39]
Article 13(b) of the Labor Code defines recruitment and placement as:
Any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring, or procuring workers, and includes referrals, contract services,promising or advertising for employment, locally or abroad, whether for profit or not: Provided, that any person or entity which, in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment to two or more persons shall be deemed engaged in recruitment and placement. (Emphasis supplied.)
In this case, the first element is, indeed, present. The prosecution established, through Belen Blones of the Licensing Branch of the POEA, who identified and confirmed the two Certifications issued by the POEA Licensing Branch, that “per available records of [its] Office,CARMEN RITUALO, in her personal capacity is not licensed by this Administration to recruit workers for overseas employment.”[40]
As to the second element, it must be shown that the accused gave the private complainant the distinct impression that he/she had the power or ability to send the private complainant abroad for work, such that the latter was convinced to part with his/her money in order to be employed.[41] Thus, to be engaged in illegal recruitment, it is plain that there must at least be a promise or an offer of employment from the person posing as a recruiter whether locally or abroad.[42] In the case at bar, the second element is similarly present. As testified to by Biacora, petitioner Ritualo professed to have the ability to send him overseas to be employed as a farm worker in Australia with a monthly salary of US$700.00.[43] To further wet Biacora’s appetite, petitioner Ritualo even showed him purported travel documents of other people about to depart, whose overseas employment she supposedly facilitated. That petitioner Ritualo personally assisted Biacora in the completion of the alleged requirements, i.e., securing a Letter of Request and Guarantee from the Representative of his Congressional District in Batangas to ensure the approval of Biacora’s application for an Australian Visa, even accompanying Biacora to the Australian Embassy, all clearly point to her efforts to convince Biacora that she (petitioner Ritualo) had, indeed, the ability and influence to make Biacora’s dream of overseas employment come true.
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