Aquino Backer Ordered Freed on Bail in Conspiracy Case

SAN FRANCISCO —  A close friend of Philippine President Corazon Aquino was freed on bail Thursday and given almost unlimited travel rights after the Aquino government vouched that he would return to face trial on explosives charges stemming from his 1981 activities against ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

U.S. Magistrate Joan Brennan issued the unusual order freeing Steven E. Psinakis after one of Psinakis’ friends signed over a $50,000 cashiers’ check as bail. Psinakis supporters broke into applause after the order was issued.

From a base in San Francisco, Psinakis had been among the leading Marcos foes in this country. He returned to Manila after Marcos’ fall in February, 1986, and is now an executive in a government-owned corporation and an adviser to Aquino.

When he returned here for business Sunday, Psinakis, 55, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on charges of conspiracy and transporting bomb paraphernalia across state lines.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Ben Burch had asked that Psinakis be forced to relinquish his passport.

But Psinakis’ lawyer, Linda E. Stostak, urged that Psinakis be allowed to return to Manila while the charges are pending because of his business and family ties there.

Philippine Consul General Virgilio C. Nanagas said in a letter to Brennan that “many well-regarded persons” in the Aquino government vouched that Psinakis will “at all times be available at all stages of the judicial proceedings against him as may be required by federal judicial process.”