U.S. Arrests Marcos Foe in Bomb Case

Federal authorities have arrested a prominent opponent of former Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos in connection with a 6-year-old explosives charge stemming from his anti-Marcos activity.

Steve Psinakis, 55, a San Francisco businessman, was arrested Sunday night as he arrived at San Francisco International Airport on a Philippine Airlines flight from Manila.

“This is a complete surprise,” said Psinakis in an interview with the Associated Press at the Hall of Justice. He is a close friend of current Philippine President Corazon Aquino.

“I haven’t the slightest clue why they would move against me on a case this old involving my legitimate efforts at that time to help the people of the Philippines free themselves from the Marcos dictatorship,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Manila, a government official said that authorities will file 45 criminal charges against Marcos, but first the government must decide if it can afford to let him return to stand trial in view of the support that he still maintains among Filipinos.

Marcos, through an aide in Honolulu where the former president is living in exile, welcomed the government’s decision.

“We are all packed and ready to go home,” the aide, Arturo Aruiza, said.

Psinakis has been the target of a San Francisco federal grand jury probe into the connection between violent anti-government activities in the Philippines and Marcos opponents in the United States.

In a December, 1981, raid on Psinakis’ San Francisco home, federal agents found detonating cord and other bomb-related material in his garbage, according to affidavits filed after the raid.