Former Philippine president Gloria Arroyo is due to appear in court for the first time since being charged with rigging an election.
Arroyo, who was arrested in November shortly after authorities stopped her from trying to leave the Philippines, is required to formally answer the charge against her in person at Thursday's hearing. She faces life in jail if convicted of conspiring with a feared political warlord to rig the 2007 senatorial elections. She has denied any wrongdoing and insists her successor, Benigno Aquino, is waging a vendetta against her. The vote-rigging case is the first of many charges Aquino has promised to file against his predecessor. Arroyo was the country's second female president and is now congresswoman after winning a parliamentary seat in the 2010 elections. She was transferred shortly after her arrest to a military hospital as she claims to suffer from a rare spinal illess.
