Large scale illegal recruitment: 3 or more, or more than 3?

There is large illegal recruitment if it is committed against "three (3) or more persons individually or as a group"; its elements, therefore, are the two above mentioned plus the fact that it is committed against three or more persons. Large scale illegal recruitment involves economic sabotage, and is penalized by Article 39(a) of the Labor Code, as amended, with life imprisonment and a fine of P100,000.00. The accused-appellant having recruited at least three persons, giving them the impressions of his ability to send workers abroad, assuring them of their employment in Japan, and collecting various amounts for alleged processing and placement fees, without license nor authority to so recruit or offer job placements abroad, thus committed large scale recruitment. [G.R. No. 120389. November 21, 1996]