This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2011-11-23 |
PERALTA, J. |
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| With regard to the penalty imposed by the RTC and affirmed by the CA, this Court finds it to be inappropriate. The trial court imposed the penalty of eight (8) years imprisonment and a fine of P100,000.00 plus cost and ordered petitioner to return the amount of US$3,600.00 or its equivalent to Romulo Padlan and the amount of US$3,600.00 or its equivalent to Arturo Siapno. Under Article 39 (c) of the Labor Code, which prescribes the penalty for illegal recruitment, any person who is neither a licensee nor a holder of authority under the law and found violating any provision thereof or its implementing rules and regulations shall, upon conviction thereof, suffer the penalty of imprisonment of not less than four (4) years but not more than eight (8) years or a fine of not less than P20,000.00 nor more than P100,000.00 or both such imprisonment and fine, at the discretion of the court. Clearly, the trial court, by imposing a straight penalty, disregarded the application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law.[18] In Argoncillo v. Court of Appeals,[19] this Court ruled that the application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law is mandatory to both the Revised Penal Code and the special laws, and in the same ruling, this Court summarized the application and non-application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law, to wit: x x x It is basic law that x x x the application of the Indeterminate Sentence Law is mandatory where imprisonment exceeds one (1) year, except only in the following cases: | |||||
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2009-12-16 |
BERSAMIN, J. |
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| Indeed, the imposition of an indeterminate sentence is mandatory. For instance, in Argoncillo v. Court of Appeals,[29] three persons were prosecuted for and found guilty of illegal fishing (with the use of explosives) as defined in Section 33, Presidential Decree No. 704, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1058, for which the prescribed penalty was imprisonment from 20 years to life imprisonment. The trial court imposed on each of the accused a straight penalty of 20 years imprisonment, and the CA affirmed the trial court. On appeal, however, this Court declared the straight penalty to be erroneous, and modified it by imposing imprisonment ranging from 20 years, as minimum, to 25 years, as maximum. | |||||