A physically weakened Gloria Arroyo has delayed a trip abroad for treatment, according to the ex-Philippine leader's aides, prolonging a stand-off that has also set the government against the judiciary.
Instead of flying to Singapore on 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.
The 64-year-old has engaged the government in a test of wills since Tuesday, when she attempted to defy a travel ban imposed by her arch-rival, President Benigno Aquino, who wants to put her on trial for graft and election fraud.
Arroyo was stopped from flying to Singapore after she was dramatically escorted Tuesday into Manila airport in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace to support her spine that she says is weakened due to a rare bone disease.
The Philippine government insisted Wednesday she must stay in the country to face a graft probe, defying the Supreme Court, which ruled she was free to seek medical care abroad.
Arroyo's lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters that the former president had called off her trip due to her health, adding that she was "weak", had unstable blood pressure and was hooked up to an intravenous tube.
He said Arroyo's poor health might be due to the incident at the airport where she was mobbed by airport personnel and the press while in her wheelchair as she tried to leave.
But Lambino said that Arroyo was still determined to depart even if her health might be threatened by the strain of another potential airport confrontation.
"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 said.
Arroyo's first attempt to leave Tuesday had come hours after the Supreme Court overturned a travel ban that the Aquino administration put in place last week as it prepared to charge her with vote rigging and corruption.
Arroyo ruled the country for more than nine years, and was elected to the lower house of the Philippine parliament after her term ended last year.
The Supreme Court, the country's highest tribunal, is to hold a special hearing Friday to address the Aquino government's move to defy its ruling on the Arroyo case, court spokesman Midas Marquez said.
The defiance has sparked warnings by the court that those barring Arroyo risked being cited for contempt, punishable by up to six months in prison.
The justices would also discuss the government's separate plea to recall the court ruling, Marquez said over ABS-CBN television.
Lambino expressed confidence the Supreme Court would uphold its earlier decision but said Arroyo would not necessarily wait for the court ruling before attempting to depart again.
The political stand-off forced Aquino to delay his trip to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bali, Indonesia, his spokesman Ricky Carandang told reporters there on Wednesday.
Aquino left Manila for the summit early Thursday, a day later than planned, but Carandang had to stand in for his boss at the traditional group photograph of ASEAN leaders at the start of the summit, an AFP photographer said.
Instead of flying to Singapore on 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.
The 64-year-old has engaged the government in a test of wills since Tuesday, when she attempted to defy a travel ban imposed by her arch-rival, President Benigno Aquino, who wants to put her on trial for graft and election fraud.
Arroyo was stopped from flying to Singapore after she was dramatically escorted Tuesday into Manila airport in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace to support her spine that she says is weakened due to a rare bone disease.
The Philippine government insisted Wednesday she must stay in the country to face a graft probe, defying the Supreme Court, which ruled she was free to seek medical care abroad.
Arroyo's lawyer Raul Lambino told reporters that the former president had called off her trip due to her health, adding that she was "weak", had unstable blood pressure and was hooked up to an intravenous tube.
He said Arroyo's poor health might be due to the incident at the airport where she was mobbed by airport personnel and the press while in her wheelchair as she tried to leave.
But Lambino said that Arroyo was still determined to depart even if her health might be threatened by the strain of another potential airport confrontation.
"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 said.
Arroyo's first attempt to leave Tuesday had come hours after the Supreme Court overturned a travel ban that the Aquino administration put in place last week as it prepared to charge her with vote rigging and corruption.
Arroyo ruled the country for more than nine years, and was elected to the lower house of the Philippine parliament after her term ended last year.
The Supreme Court, the country's highest tribunal, is to hold a special hearing Friday to address the Aquino government's move to defy its ruling on the Arroyo case, court spokesman Midas Marquez said.
The defiance has sparked warnings by the court that those barring Arroyo risked being cited for contempt, punishable by up to six months in prison.
The justices would also discuss the government's separate plea to recall the court ruling, Marquez said over ABS-CBN television.
Lambino expressed confidence the Supreme Court would uphold its earlier decision but said Arroyo would not necessarily wait for the court ruling before attempting to depart again.
The political stand-off forced Aquino to delay his trip to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bali, Indonesia, his spokesman Ricky Carandang told reporters there on Wednesday.
Aquino left Manila for the summit early Thursday, a day later than planned, but Carandang had to stand in for his boss at the traditional group photograph of ASEAN leaders at the start of the summit, an AFP photographer said.
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