A physically weakened Gloria Arroyo has delayed a trip abroad for treatment, the ex-Philippine leader's aides said Thursday, prolonging a stand-off over a government bid to prosecute her for corruption.
The 64-year-old has been in a battle of wills with the government since Tuesday, when she tried to defy a travel ban by her arch-rival, President Benigno Aquino, who wants to put her on trial for graft and election fraud.
Instead of flying to Singapore Thursday as earlier planned, the hospitalised former leader now hopes her condition will improve so she can leave Friday, her spokeswoman Elena Bautista-Horn said.
"If she's well by today we will fly out tomorrow," Horn told AFP.
Her lawyer Raul Lambino later told AFP: "There is a request coming from our end for president Arroyo to see the doctor in Singapore on Saturday."
She remained in hospital Thursday to try to stabilise her fluctuating blood pressure, Lambino added.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima vowed to block Arroyo from leaving, even though the Supreme Court had already ruled she was free to seek medical care abroad.
"My directive to the Bureau of Immigration stays and that is to prevent or bar the Arroyos from leaving," de Lima told reporters, referring to the former president and husband Jose Miguel Arroyo.
"This is an available instrument of justice, an available weapon of the state that was used to preserve the rights of the state," she said, reiterating that the ex-leader could flee to avoid a graft probe.
"As far as we can see, we are not violating any law," she said, adding state prosecutors were expected to decide shortly whether or not to file criminal charges against her in two of the cases under investigation.
The political crisis has pitted the Aquino government against the Supreme Court, with court spokesman Midas Marquez reiterating on local television that officials face possible contempt charges that carry a six-month jail term.
Arroyo was dramatically stopped from flying to Singapore after she was escorted Tuesday into Manila airport in a wheelchair wearing a neck brace to support her spine that she says is weakened due to a rare bone disease.
Lambino earlier told reporters the former president was "weak", had unstable blood pressure and was hooked up to an intravenous tube, ruling out a Thursday trip.
Her worsened state might be due to an incident where the wheelchair-bound former leader was mobbed by airport personnel and the press as she tried to leave, he added, while stressing Arroyo was still determined to depart.
"She would even risk her own life. She would go (to the airport) and ask to leave. This is non-negotiable. If she would not exercise her rights, that would mean submission to this evil that has been bestowed on us," he told AFP.
Arroyo's first attempt to leave Tuesday came hours after the Supreme Court overturned a travel ban that the Aquino administration put in place last week.
Arroyo ruled the country for more than nine years, and was elected to the lower house of the Philippine parliament after her term ended in 2010.
The Supreme Court, the country's highest tribunal, is to hold a special hearing Friday to address the stand-off.
Meanwhile, Aquino left Manila for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday, after delaying his scheduled trip for a day to deal with the Arroyo issue
