Defendant a ‘Hero,’ Filipino Aide Testifies

Underscoring his government’s intense interest in the fate of Steven Psinakis, Philippine Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus told a jury Thursday that Psinakis was a “hero” in the revolution that overthrew Ferdinand Marcos.

“I learned to admire him for his dedication to democracy, and we’re very proud of him,” Manglapus said of the man who is being tried on charges that he conspired to ship explosives from Missouri to his home in San Francisco in 1981 for use against Marcos.

As he told of harassment that many leaders in the Movement for a Free Philippines suffered at the hands of Marcos agents, Manglapus’ testimony appeared to buttress Psinakis’ claim that Marcos’ agents might have planted remnants of the explosives that were seized by the FBI from Psinakis’ garbage.

Manglapus said a fellow Filipino exile approached him in 1978 and told of being asked by Gen. Fabian C. Ver, the head of Marcos intelligence apparatus, to murder Manglapus.

Manglapus fled the Philippines the day before Marcos declared martial law in 1972 and became one of the main foes of Marcos in the United States. He said Psinakis similarly was “highly visible,” and therefore was a likely target of Marcos agents.

“It’s unfortunate that this (trial) is happening,” Manglapus said after his testimony, adding that the prosecution of Psinakis “confuses Philippine-American relations.”

Philippine President Corazon Aquino, Psinakis’ friend, tried without success to persuade the U.S. government to drop its case. Manglapus, who is the Philippine equivalent of a U.S. secretary of state, said he came to San Francisco voluntarily to testify at the trial.

“I thought it was time to come to the aid of someone who had been such a hero,” he said outside the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Robert Schnacke.

In court, Manglapus said that while he was living in Virginia, he and other exiles were subjected to defamation in Marcos-controlled newspapers aimed at Filipino readers in the United States and faced “false” criminal charges in Manila.

Under questioning by defense attorney George Harris, Manglapus said he worried that the United States would attempt to extradite him, particularly after the Reagan Administration reached an extradition treaty with the Marcos government in 1981.

The treaty was never ratified. But Manglapus testified that his fear increased when a customs agent stopped him at Kennedy Airport in 1982 or 1983, then manhandled and searched him because his name had popped up in a computer indicating he faced charges in the Philippines.

Manglapus recalled being interviewed several times by FBI agents who were investigating the activities of anti-Marcos exiles. U.S. authorities “merely tolerated” refugees from the Marcos government, he said.

“We had to fend for ourselves,” he said.

The defense and prosecution concluded their cases Thursday. The case is expected to be turned over to the jury for deliberations early next week.

Psinakis returned to the Philippines after Marcos’ fall in 1986 and since has become vice president of a conglomerate there. He was indicted secretly in 1986, and authorities arrested him at San Francisco International Airport in July, 1987, as he arrived here on a business trip.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles (Ben) Burch objected often when Manglapus spoke of the harassment by Marcos agents. Burch has tried to present a simple case, showing through wire-tapped conversations and detonation cord discovered in Psinakis’ garbage that the defendant was involved in the conspiracy to ship explosives.