People vs.

Alagao

Facts: The said accused, being members of the Manila Polic Department, were charged with the
complex crime of incriminatory machinations through unlawful arrest. The allegedly unlawfully arrested
complainant, Marcial Apolonio y Santos, and planted on his person a marked P1.00 bill in order to
impute to him the crime of bribery. The accused filed a motion to quash said information on the grounds
that said crime does not exist.

Issue: Whether or not the crime being charged against the accused can be complexed.

Held: 1. A perusal of the charge shows that it is a complex crime in the sense that the unlawful arrest
was used as a means to commit the crime of incriminatory machinations. The accused had to detain the
complainant through the unlawful arrest first before they proceeded with the planting. 2. Sol-Gen points
out that the unlawful arrest was a necessary act in order for the planting of the evidence to have been
committed. The trial courts finding that the planting happened long after the unlawful arrest was not
proven by evidence and even assuming that it was, it still doesn’t disprove the necessity of the unlawful
arrest in committing the evidence planting