Arroyo denies the charges against her and says she needs to travel to seek medical treatment for her spine [Reuters]

Former Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, under arrest on charges of rigging the 2007 election, has been transferred by court order from a private hopsital to a military facility where she will await a court decision on her case.

The convoy carrying Arroyo moved under tight security on Friday in heavy rain and road traffic from the medical facility in Manila where she was arrested last month while being treated for a bone ailment.

Last month, a Philippines court ruled that Arroyo could stay at the hospital in the capital until she was fit to be transferred to a detention facility.

Arroyo will occupy the same presidential suite at the Veterans Memorial Medical Centre in Quezon that was used by ousted President Joseph Estrada for more than three years.

The transfer is the latest chapter in the political drama pitting Arroyo against her popular reformist successor, Benigno Aquino III, who wants to drive home his anti-corruption agenda.

Arroyo, 64, told a television station on Thursday that the charges against her are "demagoguery", accusing Aquino of trying to destroy her reputation.

President from 2001 until 2010, Arroyo is now a member of the lower house of congress and is accused of ordering the rigging of 2007 congressional elections.

She has denied the allegations and says she needs to travel outside the country to seek medical treatment for a spine condition.

The election-fraud charges can carry a penalty of 40 years imprisonment.