Despite a Supreme Court ruling allowing former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to receive medical treatment abroad, the government prevented her from flying out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

The former president, who said she is suffering from bone disease, said she needed treatment abroad. She was shown in pictures to have arrived in the airport wearing a neck brace and seated in a wheelchair. Her original itinerary was to fly to Singapore and then to Spain, according to the BBC.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had ruled that the travel ban imposed on Arroyo was unconstitutional because she had yet to be formally charged with a criminal offense. However, due to numerous electoral fraud and corruption claims against her, the government ignored the court ruling and barred her from leaving.

This act of defiance by the Philippine government was called "abhorrent and in violation of the rights of the individual guaranteed by the constitution and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights," by Raul Lambino, Arroyo's lawyer.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said suspicion were aroused because the countries Arroyo wanted to visit had no extradition treaty with the Philippines. The government had feared that she would never return to face the charges against her.

"This is all high drama. They want the public to sympathize with them," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told the Associated Press. Instead, the Philippine government offered to provide Arroyo with the necessary medical care in hospitals at home.

One of the major priorities of current President Benigno Aquino is to fully investigate the criminal claims against the former president, whose term was from 2001-2010. Jose Miguel Arroyo, the husband of Gloria Arroyo, is also accused of corruption, according to CNN.

Aquino's earlier attempt to form a Truth Commission to investigate the former president and her administration was also deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It has been noted that most of the current judges in the Supreme Court were appointed during the Arroyo administration.