People Of The Philippines v. Gharbia

ROMERO, J.:

Appellant Maged Gharbia, with Laila Villanueva and Mary Gut-Omen 1 Alwiraikat who are both at large, were charge with the crime of illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate before the Regional Trial Court 2 of Quezon City, Branch 84, in an amended information which reads: That on various occasions from November 1991 to September 1992, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, above-named accused, conspiring and confederating with one another, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully, and feloniously, while representing themselves to possess the power and capacity to contract, enlist and accept amounts directly, greater than that specified in the schedule of allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary of Labor, from LEIDELYN AWAL, NANCY AMANGAN, PRISCILLA CIANO, JOHNNY CIANO, JOSEPHINE COMENDAL, CAROLYN C. DECOY, JUANA BENATIC, LORNA BAGUIOEN, RODA PALTICAN, PETRA PALTICAN, SANDRA CALALANOY, JOY MADINO, WALTER BINOS, ESTEPHANIA PAGUSAN, PATRICIA LANG-AYAN, SUSAN BAUCAN, VINCENT BUSLOTAN, DELBY ROSADO, PETER TUAZON, RICHARD COLAS, FRANKLIN COLALING, ROBERTO LONGBUAN, MILTON BUSOY, MARY BUSLAYAN, ALFREDO DALLOG, WILLIS TALLAYOG, ROLLY SAPGUIAN, MELVIN BATURI, ALLAN TANEDO, CRISTINA EBAN, REYNALDA CAMED, TESSIE KERYAO, NESTOR APID, CORAZON ABUQUE, JOEL DESIERTO, for employment to Taiwan without first obtaining the required license and or authority therefor.

CONTRARY TO LAW. 3 When appellant entered a plea of not guilty upon arraignment on November 18, 1992, trial on the merits ensued. Nineteen of the thirty-five complainants, from majority of whom hails from Baguio City were presented by the prosecution to establish the scheme perpetrated by appellant in his illegal recruitment activities.

The record shows that Gharbia and Villanueva, who represented themselves as husband and wife, and purportedly doing business under the name and style of Fil-Ger Recruitment Agency with office address at 20-H Zaragosa St., Araneta Ave., Quezon City, conspired with co-accused Mary Alwiraikat, likewise of Baguio City, in convincing the complainants that employment opportunities as factory workers abound in Taiwan. Allegedly that upon full payment of the prescribed fees which, surprisingly, were exacted in different amounts ranging from P20,000.00 to as high as P48,000.00, the applicants would then be able to fly to Taiwan to commence work thereat.1âwphi1.nêt To put a semblance of legality to appellant's activities, complainants were made to undergo medical examinations conducted at L & R Medical Center at Finlandia St., Makati City; a seminar fee was paid to study the Mandarin language and culture of Taiwan which seminar, expectedly, never took place; and complainants were made to sign documents that appear to be contracts of employment.

As the promised departure on September 27, 1992 was moved three days later, the complainants suspected the veracity of appellant's claim that he could send workers abroad; thus, the complainants checked with the China Airlines office in Ermita, Manila if indeed appellant procured tickets for them. While it was confirmed that their names were booked, no tickets were, however, purchased for the September 30, 1992 departure. Accordingly, an inquiry from the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) revealed that appellant and his group were neither licensed nor authorized to recruit workers for overseas employment.

The defense, on the other hand, presented seven witnesses who denied appellant's complicity in the charge and solely imputed the same to co-accused Laila Villanueva.

Jordanian Fayyad Assad, a former neighbor of appellant Gharbia occupying the apartment unit number 20-E Zaragosa Street, Araneta Avenue, Quezon City from 1988-1993, testified that he knew the accused, as lessee of apartment 20-H sharing the same with an Egyptian friend Mohamad and as a student taking his masteral degree at De La Salle University. After Mohamad allegedly left sometime in June 1992, Laila Villanueva came and shared the apartment with Gharbia. Since then, he noticed numerous applicants for overseas work frequented their place.

Due to the unusual flock of applicants, appellant consistently argued with Laila regarding the privacy of their home to the point that appellant would seek refuge at his house for some rest. A few months later, or sometime in September 1992, four police officers in civilian clothes, armed with M-16 rifles, arrested the appellant for the crime of illegal recruitment. He said the officers held the appellant at gunpoint, forcing the latter to go with them to Camp Crame for investigation.

In the afternoon of the same day, appellant narrated that he was released for lack of evidence against him. The following day, appellant was invited to Camp Crame but failed to come home that night, prompting him to go there himself to look for his friend. Upon reaching Camp Crame, he saw the appellant together with the applicants who were complaining against Laila Villanueva only but not against the former.

Ric Blanco, residing at 512 Bulacan St., Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila and bookkeeper for L & R Medical Clinic, testified that the nature of his work requires him to receive the referral medical slips for job applicants and that nowhere in the several transactions he handled did the name Maged Gharbia appear. Maila Neri, a registered nurse by profession, averred that he knew Maged Gharbia through Laila Villanueva, who tried to recruit her for work in Taiwan as factory worker. She allegedly paid the amount of P10,000.00 to Laila at her residence in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

While there, she noticed a number of applicants who dealt with Laila alone and no other. Saber Ali Farraj, a housemate for six months and compatriot of appellant, narrated to the court that the latter and Laila Villanueva were having a relationship. Furthermore, appellant allegedly confined himself to his studies and imputed the crime of illegal recruitment to his girlfriend Laila.

The testimony of Farraj was substantially corroborated by Susan Yonson, a real estate broker, who was initially implicated in the case as her name and that of Laila Villanueva appeared in a special power of attorney and job order issued in their favor by a certain Mr. Wong who wanted to recruit workers for his business establishments in Taiwan. In the course of the negotiations, however, she was left out and Laila took charge of recruitment activities held mostly in Baguio City. In two instances, Yonson accompanied Laila and appellant to Baguio as the latter borrowed her car purportedly for sightseeing purposes.

Special Police Officer 3 Ismael Fajardo of the Philippine National Police based in Camp Crame testified that on September 30, 1992 several complainants appeared in their office and filed a complaint against Laila Villanueva, Maged Gharbia and Mary Alwiraikat for estafa and illegal recruitment. Presented by the complainants were several documents and receipts relative to the conduct of the accused's recruitment activities showing the same either to have been executed or issued by Laila and Mary. However, as Fajardo would aptly describe it, when he, along with other police officers, accompanied the complainants to the accused's base of operations, the complainants positively identified appellant as one of those who recruited them.

Forthwith, they invited appellant and Mary for further investigation at the police headquarters where they were apprised of their constitutional rights.

Appellant Gharbia testified that he knew Laila Villanueva as he shared the apartment with her at 20-H Zaragosa St., Araneta Village, Quezon City. He averred that Laila stayed thereat until September 1992 when she suddenly disappeared. Subsequently, several police officers and prospective applicants for work abroad came to their apartment questioning him regarding their illegal recruitment activities and Laila's whereabouts.

At gunpoint, he was forced to go with them to Camp Crame where he was further investigated. The record shows that accused Mary Alwiraikat jumped bail even before she could be arraigned, while the warrant of arrest for Laila Villanueva remained unserved. In a decision dated December 7, 1994, the trial court convicted the accused, the dispositive portion of which reads:

WHEREFORE, finding accused Maged T. Gharbia guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of large scale illegal recruitment, he is hereby condemned to a) suffer the penalty of life imprisonment; b) to pay the fine of P100,000; and, c) to indemnify private complainants the actual damages they suffered, as follows: Complainant Amount Evidence/Exhibit 1. Johnny Ciano - P20,000.00 A 2. Priscilla Ciano - 41,000.00 A-1, A-2 3. Walter Binos - 48,000.00 D to I 4. Nancy Amangan - 26,000.00 M 5. J. Comendal - 40,000.00 P, Q 6. Rolly Sapguian - 40,000.000 R to U 7. Alfredo Dallog - 37,000.00 W toW-4, C 8. Joy Madino - 33,000.00 X, X-1 9. Joel Desierto - 34,600.00 Yto Y-5 10. S. Calalanoy - 39,000.00 Z, to Z-1 11. P. Lang-ayan - 25,000.00 AA, AA-1 12. M. Bayan - 30,000.00 TSN, 4/12/93 J. Tactay - 31,000.00 BB 13. Violeta Bascarse - 31,620.00 CC 14. Tessie Keryao - 25,000.00 CC, DD 15. Roda Paltican - 32,000.00 DD, DD-1 16. Juana Benatic - 38,000.00 EE to EE-3 17. Reynalda Cam-ed - 28,000.00 EE to EE-2 (TSN 4/12/93 p. 19) 18. Petra Paltican - 40,000.00 FF to FF-2 (TSN 4/12/93) 19. Willies Tallayo - 37,950.00 FF to FF-2 20. Peter Tuazon - 19,000.00 GG, GG-1 21. Roberto Longboan - 37,000.00 HH, HH-1 22. Allan Tanedo - 38,000.00 II, II-1 23. Vincent Buslotan - 34,950.00 JJ to JJ-3 24. Delby Rosado - 25,000.00 (TSN, 4/26/93) Total