April 26, 1986

President Corazon C. Aquino has accepted an invitation from President Reagan to visit the United States, a spokesman said today. The announcement was confirmed in Los Angeles, where White House officials said President Reagan invited Mrs. Aquino during a telephone conversation Thursday night for a visit sometime in the fall. Mrs. Aquino's spokesman, Rene Saguisag, said that during their three-minute conversation, which was the first direct contact Mr. Reagan has had with the new Philippine leader since she took office two months ago, Mr. Reagan invited her to visit Washington sometime after the American elections, and ''she said she'd be delighted.'' 'Low in Her Priorities' But the spokesman said such a visit could not be a top priority, given Mrs. Aquino's heavy schedule in reorganizing her Government. ''What she has really done is accepted in principle,'' he said. ''But at this time it is very low in her priorities because of the tremendous problems she faces here.'' [ As he left Washington Friday for Los Angeles, his first stop on a 13-day journey to the Far East, President Reagan brushed aside suggestions that he would face difficult negotiations on trade and terrorism at the Tokyo summit meeting. Page 3. ] [ In Washington, the United States trade representative, Clayton K. Yeutter, said Mr. Reagan would ask the summit leaders to work toward ending barriers to farm trade. Protectionism in agriculture has not previously been a summit issue.

Kickbacks in the awarding of subcontracts by big military contractors are widespread and institutionalized and present far more of a problem than generally believed, according to investigators for Congress and law enforcement agencies. Crackdowns on kickback rings have resulted in dozens of convictions in the last few years and investigators say the misconduct is part of a pattern of which they have only scratched the surface. Subcontracting, the purchase by a prime military contractor of supplies or services from other companies, is said to account for $50 billion a year in military spending. Variety of Methods Cited Kickbacks take various forms, investigators say. Sometimes a buyer for a prime contractor seeks cash or gifts from a supplier or bidder for awarding a subcontract. Sometimes it is the bidder who offers a gift. And sometimes several bidders get together with a buyer to scheme about how they can all become rich.

The owners of Madison Square Garden intend to raze the arena, replace it with twin office towers and build a new arena two blocks west of the present site, New York City and State officials said yesterday. The new Madison Square Garden, the fifth with that name in the city's history, is expected to cost more than $1 billion, and would be constructed above a railroad storage yard now being built just west of 10th Avenue between 31st and 33d Streets, the officials said. The decision by Gulf and Western Industries Inc., which owns the Garden, ends months of guessing about the future of the arena, months in which feasibility studies were ordered, zoning questions raised and sites suggested, including the one on 10th Avenue. Construction Planned for '88 The plans would require detailed environmental impact studies and would then have to pass through the city's complex review procedures, which require hearings before the local community board and the City Planning Commission, and final approval from the Planning Commission and the Board of Estimate.

Britain announced today that it was curtailing the studies of more than 200 Libyan aviation students and that they will have to leave the country. The Government said the Libyans will no longer be eligible to remain as students and will be deported if they do not leave voluntarily. It did not specify when they would be expelled if they failed to leave on their own. Authorities said the action was being taken for reasons of security. There was no public indication that any of the students had been involved in terrorist plotting, and the Government did not explain why it thought they posed a security threat.

Michael K. Deaver represented a foreign client at a meeting with an official of the National Security Council five months after he left his job as deputy White House chief of staff, according to a report he filed with the Justice Department. A Government ethics official said the meeting was within the law, but Congressional critics of Mr. Deaver strongly disagreed. David Martin, director of the Office of Government Ethics, sent a letter to the Justice Department today asking it to investigate whether Mr. Deaver had violated conflict-of-interest laws. Mr. Martin declined to produce the letter or explain what had prompted it. On Thursday five Democratic Senators sent a letter similar to Mr. Martin's to Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, setting in motion a procedure that can lead to the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate Mr. Deaver's activities. Under the law, the Attorney General must respond within 30 days and tell the senators whether he has asked a three-judge Federal court to appoint an independent counsel, or, if not, why not.